Manaphy Mystery
by Rival Trio
Summary: Three girls start high school and meet Gary, Drew and Paul. When relationships start, Manaphy decides to switch they boy's minds around for a game. Can the girls figure out what's wrong with them and fix the problem?
1. Grace : Brother Mayhem

**On behalf of me and my sisters, I would like to indroduce us as the Rival Trio.**

**We created this account to write a joint fanfiction for you.**

**I am known as Besanii-Chan, and my two sisters are Celestique and Charizard Girl. They'll introduce themselves when they post their updates.**

**Enjoy!**

Brother Mayhem.

Grace's beginning.

Ugh, brothers.

"Gary! Get out of my room before I personally kick you out."

He sighed as he flicked the magazine he was reading; "It's my room too."

My teeth began grinding together; "I need to get changed." I growled lowly. He then looked at me to see I was in a towel. He sighed once more, to my irritation, and placed the magazine on his stripped bed. Oh yeah, today is moving day to my disgust. I don't want to move from Kanto, this place is beautiful. I love Pallet Town, I'm proud to live here. Grandpappy needs to move though, and I can't bear to let him leave me, nor am I allowed to live in Kanto alone. I'm not yet fifteen, so it explains why.

Our psychic twin senses must have been sending vibes to my brother because he knew exactly what I was thinking. Either that or my face was a dead giveaway; "It's nice in Hoenn, everything is a lot greener there. You'll love it sis, I know you will." He would have hugged me if I weren't drip-drying, I could have been drying faster if he would get out of my room.

"Will you get out?" I grinned; he rolled his eyes and hurried out, closing the door behind him. I knew he had been taught manners, he just didn't show it as often as I did. You could say I was the golden girl, the good twin, but Gary was sweet when he wanted to be. He just has a lot more confidence than I do, and isn't afraid to show off what a great trainer he already is.

I don't want to be a trainer. Well, I train still, but I don't want to travel and gain gym badges the way Gary will some day. Battles to earn a little piece of metal don't appeal to me, and I know it doesn't to Gary either, he agrees accidentally sometimes. I know he's pressured into travelling by Grandpappy, and we both love him so much that neither of us would object.

I stomped down every step heavily, I usually leap down two steps at a time; drives Grandpappy insane with worry. I didn't feel like leaping today. By the glint in my brother's eye, I could tell he didn't either, but he tried to hide it, I know him too well to let it fool me but Grandpappy seemed content.

I fought the urge to pout as I helped Gary carry our suitcases to the car, it made him chuckle; "You should have come with us on the trip."

I'd stayed at my friend's house that week, the friend Gary despised. "No thanks, it would have wound me up knowing what I was leaving this place for."

"And once you've already left you don't have a choice." Gary mused in my misery. I scowled at him, only to make him laugh even more. Once my lip wobbled, he stopped and pulled me into a hug. Though we are twins, I seemed to have got the short gene while he gained the tall one. My eye line barely reached his shoulder, but I nuzzled my teary face into it anyway. Other than height and of course gender, I don't think there is much physical difference between us two. I tame my wild dark brown hair though, it can work on a boy but on a girl it looks like I can't be bothered to make an effort on my appearance. I do make an effort, we both do actually. I frame my deep brown eyes with a lighter shade on my eyelids and mascara, a little bronzer on my pale cheeks and I look human.

Today I wasn't dressed to impress at all; my black joggers and grey hoody looked completely scruffy against my brother. His purple joggers were tucked into his brown UGGs, and a black baggy top to finish his outfit. How could he pull it off and I can't? Confidence, I assume.

"I don't want to leave." I muttered into his collar bone, it didn't need to be intelligible for him to be able to know what I said; "I know, I don't either."

"Right, everything's packed. Let's go." Grandpappy called as he locked the door for the final time. I cried a little harder to let it out of my system and then climbed into the back of the car. I was glad I picked up waterproof mascara the last time I went to the store.

My grandfather smiled appreciatively at me; "You can come back, Grace. You're not leaving here forever, just until you can start travelling."

"I'm not going to travel though." I reminded him, this was a disappointment to him at first, he wanted me to travel with my brother to complete his Pokedex, but when I said I wanted to go into the nursing career he was more than delighted. 'It's a beautiful choice of life, to heal. I'm more than happy to get you to a nursing school as long as you can work close to me.' He'd joked with me, but I knew he was a little serious. So it looks like if I don't travel then I'm tied to his laboratory.

=*=*=

I have to admit, this place is beautiful. It's not home though, it seems like I'm on holiday. Only holidays don't have school on Monday, Gary wasn't too pleased.

"Why can't you teach us?" He'd pressed this issue many times, this was one argument he couldn't win. I rolled my eyes as we pulled up to this new house. On the plus side, I get my own room and the dining room is going to be used as another living room for me and Gary to use. To get out of Grandpappy's way I assume, we bicker a lot and Gary has a loud voice.

He was out of the car like a bullet; he danced on the spot as he waited impatiently for me to slide out of my seat. He grabbed my hand, slammed my door shut and dragged me after Grandpappy. His dancing continued as he waited for the door to open.

We explored the ground floor first, our lounge was a decent size, and already had a Sofa-bed and a television.

I suddenly smirked as Gary threw himself onto the sofa. I backed out of the room slowly and then began running for the stairs, I would need a head start against Gary's long legs if I'm going to pick my room first.

"Hey!" He growled as I pranced up the stairs, that was my advantage, he'd only reached the bottom when I was heading for the second room. The second room was bigger than the first, and the biggest had already been claimed by Grandpappy. I slammed the door shut behind me and screamed; "This is my room, you don't come in here ever!"

"Fine, but you're the worst sister ever." He grumbled as he slammed his bedroom door. I snickered and threw myself onto my bed. I didn't have much time to react or realise that Gary had tricked me into believing he was in his room, he jumped through my door and pounced onto me, sitting across my stomach and pinning my arms down. I squealed because I knew what was coming, those horrible noises as if he was about to spit on me, he never did, but it's still revolting and makes me wretch.

"Get off your sister Gary." Grandpappy scolded, shaking his head but chuckled in contrast. As soon as Gary released his grip on my arms, I flailed them at him until he fell off my bed. It was my turn to pounce, I reached for my bag and pulled out that miracle mascara as I straddled across him.

Grandpappy roared with laughter; "You two are worse than Seviper and Zangoose locked in a cage together."

"Except we'd be Kanto Pokémon, gramps." Gary struggled against the pressure of my wrist reaching for his eyelashes. "Okay! I give up! Let me go, I'm hungry and too manly for make-up."

I snorted, but eyed him carefully, weapon ready for any surprise attack he was planning. He just straightened his clothes and followed Grandpappy out of the room. I straightened up and closed my make-up bag, then followed them out too.

Maybe I could get used to Hoenn, depends how good school is.

* * *

**Reviews are always encouraging people. ^^**

**Over to my sisters. **_~Besanii-Chan_

* * *


	2. Victorie : Moving Doubts

**A thank you to the lovely Besanii for her introduction. :] I'm Sa-chan [Celestique on here]; thanks for stopping by!**

**Enjoy my bit of the story!**

Moving Doubts

Victorie's Beginning

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Leave me alone, dad."

I sighed and turned my head out the window to watch the scenery just fly by. Normally I would have enjoyed looking at the scenery, but today, all it did was remind me of home. Wait, correction, my _old_ home. I hadn't even been gone very long and I missed it. It was like I was missing a part of myself.

Ecruteak City. I was born there, I was raised there, and I had planned to spend my whole life there. It was a beautiful place, filled with old Japanese styled houses and beautiful flora. Everyone was friendly to each other; there was a general, peaceful air to the entire area. One tower stood proudly at the outskirt of the city, whereas another was being rebuilt for the first time after it had burned.

"Look Victorie, there's your new home!"

My father's voice broke through my reverie. I focused my gaze on a large, Victorian styled house. It looked like a mansion, or something around that size. Definitely bigger than my old house, that's for sure. But it wasn't nicer than my old house. I missed the oriental paintings on the wall, I miss the rice paper screens, the sliding doors, everything!

The car pulled into the driveway and came to a slow stop. I immediately unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car. I breathed in deeply. Ah, fresh air. I turned my head as I felt a hand on my shoulder. There stood my dad. I sighed, feeling a bit guilty. Ever since I found out we were moving, well, I haven't exactly been very friendly towards him.

The reason we moved in the first place was because my father's company merged with the famous Devon Corporation, owned by a Mr. Stone. It was a big deal for my dad, especially since this would heighten his position in the business world.

It was a big deal for me too, just not in the same way. Moving to another region meant that I would have to leave everything that I once loved behind. Most importantly, I would have to leave my best friend behind. You see, it would have been fine, had he moved too. But it was impossible. My best friend, Morty, was a gym leader. If he left, who would be there to take care of the gym?

I smiled at the thought of Morty. We were extremely tight; just like siblings. For starters, we both adored ghost pokemon. While most people found that even the slightest mention of ghost types scary, Morty and I found them to be beautiful, misunderstood pokemon. Or something like that. It's hard to describe.

It was because of Morty that I've set my dreams on becoming a trainer who specializes with ghost pokemon. I told Morty that one day I'll take over the gym for him, so he can travel. Morty and his friend Eusine really want to meet up with the legendary dogs, Suicune, Raikou, and Entei. And the legendary birds, Ho-oh and Lugia, because all five of them used to reside in Ecruteak City.

"Victorie, are you coming? I had one of the rooms decorated especially for you!" Again, my dad's voice, breaking through my daydreams. I smiled meekly at him, grabbed my little suitcase from the back of the car, and climbed the large steps of the porch before going into the house.

I'll admit, the house was fairly impressive. Freshly waxed ebony floors, beige colored walls, and sheer, maroon colored curtains, _and_ it was absolutely huge. My dad pointed upstairs and told me that my room was to the right. I shot up the stairs like a bullet.

"Wow… dad didn't spare any expense to furbish my room…" I smiled. The room was beautiful. In one corner was a new bed with lotus blossom printed bed sheets and matching pillows. Beside it was a white nightstand where a oriental styled lamp was placed neatly in the center. On the opposite end from the door, where I was standing, was a huge window that led to my own little balcony, that had a small table and matching chair on it. Plush rugs lay scattered on the ground and Japanese printed paintings hung on the walls.

In short, I loved it.

My father walked into my room, knocking gently on the open door. I spun around and greeted him with a delighted smile. He returned it with one of his own. For a moment, I forgot all about how upset I had been with him. Much to his surprise, and mine for that matter, I rushed over towards him and gave him a hug.

I held onto my dad tightly and he did the same. "I'm sorry…" We parted and he looked at me with understanding eyes. I loved my dad, I really did. "I'm sorry too. I know that it's hard for you… it's hard for the both us. I'll try and make it up to you, somehow or another." I couldn't help but giggle at his words. "Don't worry about it dad. I'll be fine. Just promise me that we'll visit Ecruteak soon."

And that he did.

-- ~ * ~ --

I had decided to explore the forest that was near Rustboro. Apparently I would have to walk through that just to get to the main city, because our "mansion" was located somewhere in the middle of this forest like place. Luckily, it wasn't hard for me to navigate my way through the trees.

As I navigated my way through the dense shrubs, I heard voices. My hands immediately went to my pokeballs. Though my pokemon weren't top notch, like Morty's, they were still fairly strong. I pulled the first pokeball I reached off of my belt and released the ghost inside.

Moments later, my Misdreavus floated in front of my face. It cooed happily and nestled itself on my shoulder. I smiled and with newfound confidence, strode forward. Two people stood in a small clearing, one a middle aged man dressed in a fancy suit, and the other a younger man, also dressed in a fancy suit.

One of them seemed to notice me; "Look, a person! Maybe they can give us directions!"

They seemed harmless enough, so I went over to them. "Can I help you, sirs?" The older one looked at me as if I were an oasis in the middle of a desert. Obviously he was desperate for directions. I cocked my head towards one side, waiting for a reply.

When the younger man realized that the older one wasn't about to give an answer, he spoke up. "If you could, that would be wonderful. My father," he motioned towards the older man. "And I are looking for the De Blume household. By any chance, might you know where we could find it?"

I grinned. "That I do. Follow me." Misdreavus and I led the two men back towards my house. "So tell me," I said pleasantly. "Why do you want to visit the De Blume household?" The younger man, who had spoken to me, spoke again. "The De Blume family's business and my father's business merged recently, and my father was desperate to meet Mr. De Blume at his house to make sure everything was alright."

It was then that I figured out who they were. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "Then your father must be Mr. Stone, meaning that you're his son, Steven Stone, am I correct?" I received a nod and a smile in reply. I smiled in return. "Thank you very much for helping my father out with the house. It's absolutely gorgeous."

"You must be Leon's daughter then!" Mr. Stone finally spoke. I turned to him and nodded graciously. I had to be polite, he was my father's partner. "Yes sir. I'm Victorie de Blume, a pleasure to meet you, and Steven." We all got along very well after that.

We arrived at the house about ten minutes later. I skipped up the stairs of the porch and used one of the great brass door handles to knock on the door. My father answered it. He looked startled at first, but quickly invited the three of us in.

The four of us went into the large living room where we sat ourselves comfortably on the sofas and began to converse. Mr. Stone and my father were eager to talk about how the house was and when he would start going to work, and all of those things that I can honestly say I didn't care about.

Instead, I talked to Steven. It turned out that he was older than he looked and that he was married to a woman around his age named Sapphire. The two of them had been married for quite a long time, and they had one son, whom I never did find out the name of.

"You're planning on going to the school in Rustboro then?" I nodded at Steven's words. "Yes, I am. My father couldn't bear the thought of living in this giant house alone, so boarding school in Lilycove was out of the question. Rustboro's school is the closest to here." Steven looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling. "My son goes to that school. I'll let him know that you'll be going there; if you ever need any help, be sure to ask him."

I bobbed my head up and down absently, thinking about Steven's son. I wondered if he had the same silvery hair that his father did, or if he had inherited the auburn hair that his mother had. Maybe he didn't have either. I mean, my dad had blonde hair, and my mum's hair was blonde. Somehow or another, I got super dark hair. I had decided back when I was still in Johto to dye the ends of my hair red, just to make it a bit brighter. And because my mum's favorite color was red. Or so my dad tells me.

"Victorie," Mr. Stone said suddenly. Everyone quieted and looked at him. "Before I leave, I would like to take this chance to welcome you to Hoenn. I know it isn't the same as Johto, but I'm sure you'll like it just as much." I smiled, thanking him. "I'd also like to let you know that if you _ever_ need any help, the Devon Corporation's doors will always be open for you. We're located near the school you'll be attending, only a few blocks away. It's hard to miss the building."

I thanked him again before both he and his son took their leave. When they had disappeared from sight, my dad shut the door and suggested that I get ready for bed. I looked at the clock. He was right, I should. It was late, and school started for me soon. Need to get used to the time difference, even though it was only a couple hours.

"Night dad." I said, kissing him on the cheek before racing up the stairs. "Goodnight Victorie, sweet dreams." He replied, catching me in a bear hug. I laughed. He let go of me and then smiled down at me. "Your mother would be very proud of you, you know that?" I nodded. "I know dad, I know. Love you!"

And with that, I climbed the stairs to my bedroom and shut the door quietly behind me. I guess Hoenn might not be so bad after all.

* * *

**And that's that! I hope you liked it. ;] Reviews are loved! x  
**

**~ Sa-chan;;  
**


	3. Luna : Sibling Love

_Ahaa, we'll I'm Scarlett, Charizard_Girl here :] Umm, don't really know what to say really except ta-da xD And the other two are waay better writers then mee :P I'm just kind of the 'trio' part! But regardless of my not-so-good writing skills which people do appear to like, I'm still here and I have to update so yahh, Mistress Gary shall comply. So umm, Go Rival Trio x]_

_**S**__ibling __**L**__ove_

_L u n a ' s B e g i n n i n g__ - ×_

* * *

Yeah, it was official, this was really happening. I can't believe we're in Hoenn; we being me, my parents and annoying brat of a little sister. Speaking of the miniature demon, she was actually doing everything possible to get on my last nerve. And she was doing a remarkably good job of it at that. This would be a usually routine, she'd subtly annoy me, and I'd blatantly punish her – who gets in trouble? The one and only Luna Lockheart, that's who. So that meant little Kayla Lockheart got off scot free.

At the moment the little moron was innocently twirling her bright strawberry blonde hair around one of her fingers, the other hand gripping tightly on some handheld console that I used to own once upon a time. She wasn't even playing it; she just had the irritating background music blaring, watching me with her beady little topaz irises out of the corner of her eye, waiting patiently for me to explode. The faux optimism I had been using since I learnt we were moving was beginning to very rapidly die into insignificance, being replaced by my true feelings about this whole thing. To think I was overjoyed nine years ago to find my mother was having another child and the title of being an only child would finally materialize into nothingness. Well I so wasn't feeling any emotions of the sort, actually the opposite ones. I glared at the nine year old devil in the making out of the corner of my eye, wishing she would just perish or dissolve into thin air before my eyes.

"Mum! Luna's glaring at me!" Kayla squealed, adjusting her eyes to ones of innocence and sadness. "Make her stop!" she continued to whine, tugging at our mother in the passenger seat.

"Luna, leave your sister alone before we crash." my mother scolded, not even looking back at us, just continuing to scan over her new magazine.

I did not need this! "I didn't do anything, and tell her to turn down the music to that blasted device before I throw it out the window." I growled furiously, although I couldn't help but feel like Kayla's age.

The brat squealed a protest and my mother sighed desperately, putting down the magazine on the dashboard and rubbing her temples. She probably had a headache coming on, no doubt more from that exasperating music rather then our constant bickering. "Kayla, turn down the music." she said, trying anxiously to please everything.

"But Mum—!" she was cut off by our father.

"Yes Kayla, turn it down. It's distracting me too." he said. It was because of him we were moving in the first place. He got offered a full-time teaching job here rather then just being a sub in local towns in Sinnoh, so naturally he took it. But that meant us all moving because Mum wanted to live in a hotter country, and obviously us two siblings could not be left alone considering I'm only fifteen.

She huffed and reluctantly turned the sound down a fraction. It was enough to satisfy me considering for once I won and I grinned happily. I shot her a mocking 'ha-ha' look with my eyes and she pierced her own blue eyes at me into a glare that practically screamed that she'll get me back. And people call this relationship a loving one? Sibling love they say, ha! It's called hatred, the idiots, no love at all.

"Mum! Dad! Luna's smiling!" she screamed, pointing at my face in aggravation that she was quick to hide when Mum turned around. I was just as quick to straighten my face and pretend to be absently gazing out the window, paying no mind at all to anybody else in the vehicle.

When I felt sure they weren't suspicious anymore I piped up. "I'm thirsty." I complained. They knew what I was subtly requesting, and Mum passed me a bottle of water that had probably been in the car since a week ago. I took gulp from it and suppressed the urge to spit out the warm water. I glared at the bottle in disgust. "Bathwater." I grumbled. I didn't mean it literally, obviously; it just tasted like it since it was so warm.

I handed it back to Mum who ignored my complaints and, upon realising I was being ignored I returned to gazing out of the window, surveying the new country known as Hoenn. We were close to our destination now though. Everything was so bright it was kind of annoying. When we stopped at a pair of traffic lights I examined the pedestrians and civilians. There hair was one thing that caught my eye, it's like they went from one extremity to another colour wise. I don't think I've ever seen someone with pink hair in Solaceon Town back in Sinnoh, or any other place across the country. They went through shades from platinum white right up to jet black – going through blonde and brunette. Then there was occasionally someone that had midnight blue hair that skimmed a shade of black, or the natural auburn, orange and red hair. The next thing that shocked me was how cold they all seemed, it was boiling outside! We had the air conditioning on and short sleeves, but in any other car they'd probably have the heating on instead.

Then the lights flashed green and we were moving again. I had lost interest with my sister and her desperate attempts to get me angry with her. I was completely enthralled with the new City me and my family would be permanently living in unless we decided to move houses again. Maybe a fresh start wouldn't be so hard, a clean slate. Of course I could stay in contact with my friends from the other country, and lose contact with the people I was not so fond of. But new things are good, I'm not stupid enough to not realise that. I can't say I'm overly intelligent on stuff like that – or anything for that matter. I then caught sight of the new school which dad promptly pointed out to me and my blue eyes gleaming with fascination. It was so much bigger then my last miniscule school, which was understandable considering it was a small town, but I had always wondered what it would be like being in a big school.

I spaced out a bit, wondering what the first day would be like. Before I knew it the car revved to a halt and the breaks squeaked like usual. Dad put down the handbrake whilst pulling out the keys whilst the rest of us emerged from the car we had been stuck in for hours. The nearest dock was ages away, and we obviously had to take it to bring the car since it's impossible to bring it on a plane.

"I'm picking my room first!" I squealed, rushing into the door the millisecond my mother unlocked the door. The blinked in shock as I sped up down the hall, closely followed by Kayla.

"It's not fair, you have longer legs!" she whined, checking the first room after I had already examined it.

"All the best Olympic runners have short legs." I stated, finally picking a room out of the selection of three. Now my little sister had a choice between two, the other evidently ending up as spare room. Mum and Dad already had possessed the master bedroom upstairs. It didn't take her long to work out the difference in size and she picked the one next to mine.

In a few moments she scampered into my bedroom where I was resting my eyes. "Why are the shorter ones better runners?" she asked curiously, plopping at the end of the bed by my feet.

I kept my eyes shut for a moment, remembering having asked that question before. I tried to recall the answer. "Because they can move quicker, and are more co-ordinated." I said peacefully. This was one of the rare occasions we didn't argue.

"I want to be a co-ordinator!" Kayla said enthusiastically, jumping up to a stand on my bed and punching the air enthusiastically.

She just had to ruin it. I opened my eyes, sat up and glared at her determined face. "If you do I'll completely disown you." I said coldly. Yeah, I hate co-ordinators with a passion, and you may be thinking hate's a strong word, but that just emphasizes my point more. The word hate is very scarcely used in my vocabulary.

Kayla's face fell and she dropped back to a sit on my bed, jumping back up slightly on the bouncing mattress before settling herself. "Why?" she asked.

I sighed, we had been through this one too many times. "Because co-ordinators think they're so high and haughty because they think they're so creative. Plus they're stupid." I sneered in disgust.

"Why are they stupid?" she prodded, her topaz eyes gleaming with curiosity and genuine interest,

"Because they chose to be a co-ordinator." I smirked. "No intelligent person would do a thing like that." I inserted.

She looked a little shocked even though this was a regular conversation we had. "So does that mean I'm an idiot?" she asked. That was a new question.

I contemplated it for a moment and grinned playfully. "That you are kiddo." I replied humorously. I leant forward and ruffled her strawberry blonde hair to show her I was kidding so she wouldn't start crying. She did look a little hurt at first, but when she caught on it was a joke she smiled brightly. She was a bit of an idiot, but she had her moments, and I guess deep down we did love each other.

"Guys, dinners ready!" my mother's call echoed up the hall. Me and Kayla both exchanged looks before rushing enthusiastically out of my bedroom, following the fresh smell of food.

* * *

_Reviews are soo appreciated :D! thank y'all for reading! I was going to say thank you in Irish but at the moment my brain is frazzled o.O actually it's frazzled 87% of the time soo...yah! [ x . X . x ]_

**

* * *

**


	4. Grace : School Battles

School Battles.

Grace's first day.

If it weren't for my Gary shield I'd probably wouldn't have made it out of the door today, my knees weren't supporting me and my whole core was subtly shaking.

Our uniforms were pretty simple, and I guess they look nicer than Kanto ones. (Blazers and trousers are not nice in the summer.) I wore a plain white fitted shirt and the navy blue plaid skirt that was about an inch higher than my knee. I pulled on white knee high socks to cover me up a little; this place was cold compared to Kanto. 'Something we'll get used to,' says he who can wear nice, warm trousers. I had to teach him how to tie; he'd be useless without me. He says so himself.

But then again, I should remind myself how I would have crumbled without him beside me as I entered the school gates. People looked and whispered and gossiped; I would have died alone.

"Calm down." He clutched onto my hand, though he squeezed it as if for his own comfort. We followed the signs to reception, where a kind, plump lady with short black and red tipped hair greeted us.

"You're the Oak twins, yes?"

Oh dear, are we not individuals because we were conceived together?

"I'm Grace." I choked in attempt to hide my annoyance. Gary seemed to stifle his name too, clearly thinking the same because he lost every bit of contact between us immediately. The woman apologised and smiled sweetly; "You'll be having an assembly in the main hall when the bell rings, you'll get your timetable there."

"Thank you Miss." Gary bowed his head slightly and hurried for the door. I fumed as soon as I was out of reach of the secretary.

"Oak twins, we sound like mass murderers." I scoffed, scowling at a girl who passed me accidentally. I worked on keeping my face pleasant after that.

Gary stopped and laughed at me; "I was more annoyed that she knew exactly who we were. We're gossip."

"Or we just look very alike." I chuckled at his stupidity, his sense of individuality deluded the fact we looked like the same person but in different genders. I had a rounder, more feminine face, and my lips had a more prominent cupid's bow and that was about it.

He grumbled something as we made our way across the yard, not realising he was heading straight into another pupil.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The girl squeaked, she was a little taller than me, but she still had to lift her shockingly blue eyes to see Gary's face; her cheeks tinted a charming embarrassed pink. Gary rubbed his head; "My fault, sorry."

The girl tittered nervously, then shifted her look to me, she had to look between us a couple of times, until I finally spoke up; "Twins."

"Of course…" She breathed, her pink going a shade darker. Looking between us was blatantly an excuse to look at my brother's face. Our look worked for him; again, it's not fair.

The girl hovered a moment, and shuffled beside me when we began to walk for the main hall again. "I'm Luna." She smiled.

"Grace."

"Gary, pleased to meet you."

I nodded my head in agreement, but eyed my brother carefully, politeness was not something he played freely. I'd ask him later about it.

Later was pretty soon actually, the girl had wandered off to get a seat and we lingered at the back, sitting as far away from the front as possible, people were sure to stare at twins.

"What's with you?" I narrowed my eyes, scanning his face for a trace of smirk. He looked back at me innocently; "What?"

I rolled my eyes; "Why were you so polite? Are you ill?"

"No."

"You like her." I grinned, summarizing a little too soon but I love the way he reacts.

He scowled at me and stiffened in defence; "Maybe I'm being polite because it's our first day, making friends is a good way to start the year. Maybe _you_ should try sometimes." He bit his lip after he said it, and I hissed.

"I had friends in Kanto." I growled.

"I know, I just don't want you to be all sad for them because it will put people off introducing themselves to you."

My scowl dropped to my loose, blank look. "Aww. You do care." I grinned mockingly, but he frowned; "Of course I do."

We received a couple of looks, some looked curiously at us, it was not very common to see a girl and boy sat together. I can assume what they initially thought (which makes me a little nauseous) but one look at our faces confirms it. The looks got a little tiresome after a while, I found myself staring back at their faces to see how they liked it.

I'd never seen such a rainbow of different hair colours, back in Kanto, we were all either the brown colour chart or red. It was very rare to find someone with green hair like one of the boys close to the front. He turned to his friend and I suppressed a gasp, his profile was absolutely stunning. I don't think I've ever seen anyone quite like him before; he was probably more beautiful than any girl I knew. Yet there was an air to him that I can't quite describe. He definitely wasn't a girl, anyway. His friend was equally attractive but a lot more masculine in his facial structure, a rugged shaped chin and a lot squarer eyes. Wow, those eyes, I hadn't seen any eyes darker than mine or Gary's, but his beat ours without a doubt.

"What are you doing?" Gary asked, I blinked and looked to him, behind him I could see two girls with different shades of honey blond hair looking in the same direction I just was.

"I was looking at what they're so interested in." I excused myself, even my twin couldn't have seen past that one. He nodded after glancing at the two girls, who looked back at my brother and giggled when he turned away. I was close to hitting them, but I knew Gary enjoyed the attention, though he never returned it.

The room filled and quietened quicker than I'd expected, I kept glancing at the beautiful boy, but forced myself to stop because his silky smooth green hair was making me envious. The talk from our new headmaster (who I've already forgotten his name) was short and he had us collect our time tables.

Luna was in our queue too; her second name must be between K-P then. I glanced at my timetable and compared with Gary and Luna. Of course I had to have battling with Gary; that would be just my luck. Now I was most definitely going to be overshadowed. Luna and I had Pokémon care and history together. All three of us had design technology together, so I looked forward to that, I was creative anyway. Luna mumbled her next lesson and hurried off so she wasn't late, and me and Gary were luckily in the same block for our first lesson. I had Biology first; he had physics so we rushed over nervously.

"You'll be fine." He knew I was trembling without even looking at me; I nodded and stopped by my door. "Later Sis." He saluted me and walked off, with even more female attention than in the hall. I calmed myself and shuffled into my classroom. The friendly teacher, Miss. Halethorpe let us sit where we wanted, so I chose to sit next to a dark haired girl instead of the burly looking boy at the opposite end of the room.

We learnt about bug types, a nice easy topic. I'm not one to gloat, but being Professor Oak's granddaughter means knowledge is practically forced into your brain, so I breezed through the questions about Kanto and Johto dwelling bug types. I'd never heard of a Wormadam though.

"They're all female, female Burmy evolve into Wormadam and males evolve into Mothim." The girl explained to me, she knew her Sinnoh Pokémon alright. She nodded to me, I thanked her and helped her with the telling the difference between Cascoon and Silcoon.

"Grace." I introduced myself, holding my hand out to congratulate ourselves on completing the questions quickly. She told me her name was Victorie, an unusual yet intriguing name. Kanto must stick to plain names as well as hair colour. Although I really liked this girl's; it was darker than mine but lighter at the tips, completely unique but looked normal too.

My next two lessons was double Design Technology, turns out Victorie was in this class too, as well as the green haired boy. Not the other one though. Victorie and Luna clearly noticed his beauty too, it was beyond what I thought was possible for a male, I couldn't describe him as handsome, he was too pretty for handsome. Gary seemed to like him, they chatted a minute and then sat together as they waited for the instructions.

I didn't mind being left with these two girls, I introduced them to each other, and we discovered that we were all from different regions. Luna had come from Sinnoh, she said it was cold there and so it would explain her shorter sleeved shirt and mid-calf socks. Victorie was from Johto, which was a very similar climate to Kanto due to its closeness. She had the navy cardigan on over a lace-flower collared blouse.

We were taught how to make pokeballs from acorns. Victorie explained it was very much a Johto tradition, and she made hers quickly then helped us with ours. Once the lesson finished, we had working pokeballs to take home with us. Maybe a grass type would help for healing when I become a nurse, or maybe a Miltank for its healing milk. Or maybe a Chansey, every Nurse Joy has one…

My next lesson was Physical Education, and to my disgust I was alone. So I found my way to the gymnasium with the constant worry that Gary wasn't there to be my partner. Back at our old school we were unbeatable together, they used to say we were cheating but we're not psychic at all. They still had their doubts about us. Now I wish I had that doubt, because disbelief is better than being alone.

We weren't doing anything physically challenging for this lesson because we didn't know to bring our gym kits. Instead we battled, people who didn't have Pokémon borrowed the school's, but I had my own. Because of this, I just had to get called up. I withheld my scowl with the most control I had and stood up in front of the class, I hate the center of attention.

I released my first Pokémon, Vaporeon. I'd raised her from an Eevee much like my brother had, but they evolved down different paths. A Turtwig was released from the other end of the gymnasium.

Why were we battling anyway? Why did they need an example?! I already dislike this teacher.

I called for an aqua ring straight away; it was my tactic against Gary's Elekid so it should work against a grass type too. As soon as my opponent (whom I only just realised was the one in the hall with the green haired boy) called for a razor leaf, I responded with endure. Once the aqua ring kicked in, Vaporeon didn't look touched.

"Surf." Of course, without being in a pool, Vaporeon had to supply itself with the water; its eyes flashed an aqua blue and jetted forward towards the Turtwig. The boy called for a vine whip, and I knew this would work like a physical attack too. So I used my ice wall tactic.

"Up, and use aurora beam on your surf."

The surf propelled Vaporeon upwards, and it turned around to freeze its trail. The vine whip followed upwards but my Pokémon landed the other side of the wall.

"Now tackle!" It charged through the ice and shards flew towards Turtwig, he fought them away with the vine whip which cleverly lashed around. It then crossed the two vines to stop Vaporeon and wrapped around her.

"Leech seed."

That didn't bother me much; my aqua ring should restore any damage from that. I was in close enough range to call for an aurora beam and finish it soon enough.

"Energy ball," he growled so it could hold back the beam long enough for the speedy Turtwig to hurry off.

This was getting pretty annoying, I only had one other tactic and that was to circle him and close in. I knew a propelling surf was faster than Turtwig, so that's what I shouted. The ice created a wall around the grass type and Vaporeon closed in on it, the beautiful rainbow light from its aurora beam reflected in the ice wall that was blurring our view.

"Solar Beam."

Of course he'd turn my wall to his advantage. I scowled and waited, hoping that the aurora beam would be enough to finish Turtwig before the solar beam had charged. Of course it didn't, I was purely unlucky in battles. Vaporeon can't take such an attack, we weren't made for battling.

The teacher called Turtwig as the winner and I asked my Vaporeon to use wish before I returned it. The other students were itching to battle too.

I released my Kirlia, but didn't bother to battle anymore, the boy didn't seem bothered either, I walked over and sat beside him; "Thanks for a great battle."

"Same I guess."

I bit my lip as I wondered what he meant, I shrugged it off and continued to talk; "I thought I had you for a moment but your Turtwig is really strong."

He didn't say anything; I guess he must be shy. I struggled to find a topic to talk about, but gave up and stayed silent as I watched a Venomoth battle a Magby.

"You're the twin, aren't you?" He looked at my face. I forced myself to keep my face straight; so now I'm just 'the' twin. This was getting pretty tiresome, plus it was pretty stupid because I can't be _the_ twin without _another_ twin. I stopped my mental rant and nodded.

"Your brother's quite the battler." It sounded as if he wanted a response, though he said it as if he were stating the obvious. I nodded; "He's better than me, I don't want to be a trainer though."

He didn't seem to care about my opinion; "I'd like to battle him some time." _Some time_ obviously meant _as soon as possible_ to him and he stood up as the bell rang. He was a lot taller than Gary, I looked half his age! He had to be half a foot taller than me.

I tried to keep pleasant; "I'm meeting him for lunch now, you're welcome to meet him, but I don't think he will want to battle."

"What are you psychic?" He sneered uncontrollably; I blushed and averted my gaze under his cold glare. Why was he being so horrible to me? I'd put up a fair fight, hadn't I?

"No, we just have battling next." I stuttered as a hurried after his long legged strides. My short legs had to move twice as fast, it would have been humorous to watch if this boy wasn't so mean.

"I'm Grace." I gritted my teeth into a smile as genuinely as possible. He just nodded. No reply. He was making me madder than Gary on a bad day, and Gary usually takes it out on me when he does. I could feel myself blushing with rage, and as soon as I saw Gary's hair in the crowd I pushed my legs faster. I could feel my calves cramping a little but I didn't care, I could feel myself grinning when I reached him anyway.

"Hey! My new err…" I struggled to find the word, friend wouldn't work; "peer wants to meet you." Yes, peer worked nicely.

Gary nodded and brushed my hair out from my flustered face; "Sure." He looked up over me to see the boy whose name I didn't even know yet. I decided I should introduce Gary to him rather than embarrass myself.

"This is my brother." Gary held out his hand, and the boy shook it firmly; "Paul."

Paul.

"It's nice to meet you; a friend to my sister is my friend too."

I stopped myself from correcting him, Paul didn't even bother to respond, or look in my direction. I was merely a stepping stone to battling my brother.

He seemed to enjoy our company, I think. He barely showed any emotion, I'd never seen anyone quite like him, his composure was firm and concentrated, he barely relaxed when we sat down to eat.

"You're from Kanto." Again with the question/statement, why couldn't he just show he was curious?

Gary nodded; "Yeah, my grandfather needed to come out here to research Hoenn Pokémon."

"Your grandfather is very well known around here."

Of course, duh. He _is_ Professor Oak. I could feel myself get even more heated by the second. Gary nudged me with his foot under the table; I was obviously showing how annoyed I was too. I distracted myself with my friends when they arrived. Paul was quick to leave once his green haired friend came in and Gary stayed with us.

"Wow." Was all he managed, he kept his lips motionless as he looked down at his food. "You do pick your friends." He chuckled, looking at my heated face. I scowled back at him; surely he knew that that jerk was not my friend. I had far better judgement than that.

=*=*=

Battling was fun, I guess. I got to team up with Gary, so we could show off our team tactics with my Kirlia and his Umbreon. We were against a Combusken and a Shuppet, so neither team had the most advantage.

Gary took off with his attack first; "Giga Impact!"

Of course, in double battles, I could cover Gary when he used this move, it was powerful enough to knock Combusken straight towards Kirlia, and I commanded for a psychic.

The Combusken was sent flying toward its partner, but Shuppet shifted through the shadows so we couldn't see it. I decided to focus on Combusken while Umbreon covered Kirlia.

"Hypnosis!" I cried, and my Kirlia began to focus on Combusken, who fought but fell to sleep.

A shadow ball came from the shadows of our area, and I knew Umbreon could do nothing for a little longer.

"Protect my Umbreon!" Gary shouted at me, I glared at him, but nodded for Kirlia to set into action. It danced towards Umbreon and cloaked them both in a green dome.

"Faint attack." Gary commanded, and his Umbreon flung itself towards the Shuppet and disappearing suddenly. I ignored Gary's glance at me, and set into attack Combusken, whose trainer was crying helplessly for it to wake up.

"Calm mind." I ordered, since I wasn't helping Gary anymore, I could take my time. Kirlia closed its eyes and relaxed, then nodded when it was ready to attack.

"Now use Dream eater!"

I could see Kirlia was looking better as it drained the energy from out fire foe. Gary watched a second, this was a new move to him. He didn't realise that Shuppet had taken advantage of the distraction and shot a shadow ball in Kirlia's direction.

"Watch out-"

Too late, my reactions weren't fast enough and Kirlia was attacked to the floor. She managed to pull herself back up, but only just.

"Psychic." I knew I had to keep her from moving, she didn't have the energy.

"You're supposed to be covering me." I growled, I guess I do have a little bit of a competitive streak in me. Or maybe I wanted to win more now that I lost my previous battle to that jerk.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking." He grumbled, then shouted a move. He's immobilized Shuppet so Kirlia could fire the sleeping Combusken towards it, knocking them both out instantly.

"Maybe you should open your eyes." I didn't care for the victory. I picked up my bag and held onto Kirlia's hand. School had finished, and I was going home.

"Grace, what's wrong?" He hurried after me, his Umbreon running ahead slightly.

"Nothing." I spat, there really was nothing, why am I feeling the urge to be mad?

He forced a laugh and stood in front of me; "doesn't look like it to me."

I repeated myself; "Maybe you should open your eyes." I shrugged past him, my first day at school was over, and I was going home.

=*=*=

He didn't dare come home until Grandpappy got back from his new laboratory. He knew I was upset about something, but neither of us knew what it was.

"Grace?" A head popped around my door carefully, I was sat on the edge of my bed staring out my window with Vaporeon and Kirlia lay beside me.

"Hey 'pappy." I said weakly, having to sigh to get enough oxygen to speak. He picked up Kirlia and sat down with her on his lap.

"By the way your Kirlia is reacting, I'd say you're a little down?"

I sighed again, then nodded and turned my face away from my grandfather's direction.

"Gary's had a good day…" He said, _good for Gary_. "Have you?" He tried to see my face.

"It was alright, I guess." That was the right answer for him, now he knew it wasn't the school that was the problem.

He sighed and gripped onto my hand; "You're homesick, you'll get better. This is a marvellous opportunity for you if you want to become a nurse."

"I know…" I grumbled; "I just miss home."

"This is your home now." He kissed my forehead and stood up; "You just need time to get used to it, you'll be back to normal soon."

This place wasn't normal, the only thing that had got me through this past few years was the memories home held for me. Now I wasn't home, my memories were clogged in my head to slowly drive me insane.

"Don't take it out on Gary dear, he's going through this too." He smiled at me worriedly, I nodded; "Thank you Grandpappy."

"You're welcome, would you like some dinner?"

"No thanks, I think I'm going to shower then go to sleep."

He frowned at me; it was only just eight pm. He nodded anyway and left the room. I finished my Biology homework on Scizor and Scyther, hopped in the shower then attempted to sleep.

=*=*=

I couldn't keep myself quiet, though I knew Grandpappy wouldn't hear me, Gary had ears of a Marill.

I needed comfort, and if I was taking this bad, I could assume Gary wasn't taking it any easier; he just tries not to show it.

I shuffled out of my bedroom and tapped on his door; "Are you awake?" I whispered, then I peeped around his door, he was sat upright, his eyes glazed.

"Grace? Are you alright?"

I pursed my lips, if I opened them I knew a sob would vibrate through my throat; the lump was already choking me.

He summoned me over when I didn't reply, so he could see my face under what little light there was. I didn't stop to let him see my face though, I crashed into him with my arms wrapped tightly around him.

He sat silently for a while, waiting until I was ready to talk.

My mouth opened and closed continuously as I fought myself to speak against my sobs. There were no sounds except the rushing of my rasped breaths, and Gary's calm ones.

"Gary, I miss Mum. I want her back, I miss her…" I mumbled through sobs, I could barely understand myself.

"I know you do, I do too." He whispered into my tea tree smelling hair.

I pulled away from his hug, but kept staring down; "I want to go home." I sniffed, and he placed a firm grip around my shoulders.

"Grace, this is our home now. She's not coming back whether you're here or in Kanto, you've got to get used to it."

I sniffed again; "But it's so hard…" I complained, of course, he's the one person who would understand it, so why would he need me to tell him how I felt?

He pulled me back to hug me for support, why was I the weak one in this? I should be supporting Gary too!

"I know, I know…" Of course he did, it was shocking how he kept his calm so easily. I must have fallen asleep because I don't remember any more of our conversation. His presence comforted me like no one else, and I couldn't thank him enough for it.


	5. Luna : Humiliation Record

_Ahaa, this chapter is a bit long :S! And I've decided to update second just 'cause I feel like it 8). Sa-chan needs to update naoo, soo whenever you're ready hun ;]! Thanks for the reviews people [= fantastico! So here's my nice, boring, long chapter of Luna's first day, enjoy :D__**

* * *

**_  
_**H**umiliation **R**ecord  
L u n a ' s F i r s t D a y - ×_

* * *

My sister must be much more hyped about going to school then I was. She was meant to wake up when I left for school in Dad's car but she was almost awake the same time as me. I was battling through my hair with a hairbrush and I could here her skipping excitedly down the hall. Gazed in the mirror at my hair; people always told me it was blonde but I was convinced it was brown. I'd die for hair like my sisters, but it did used to be like that when I was nine too, it just matured into a darker shade. I then found myself scavenging through my drawers for a hair bobbin to tie up my hair, but I found that they had all mysteriously disappeared. I narrowed my eyes, knowing exactly where they had gone but I couldn't be bothered to go with them. It'll probably look like a frizzy mess by the end of the day but I then again it might not. I shrugged and debated which socks to wear. I could wear my ankle socks but then I felt like I'd look a bit stupid so I ended up pulling my others on.

When I advanced down the hall Kayla was jumping excitedly in her new little uniform. I smiled in amusement as I had my breakfast, but was soon forced to do her hair. I tied it up in low pigtails and then gave her the brush so she could sort out her fringe. She had a full one, I had a side one which enjoyed falling over my eye in an emo kind of way. I didn't bother me though, and then I was dragged into the car after my dad since he was a teacher. I prayed to all that is right in the universe that he wouldn't end up as one of my teachers. I actually had to follow him into the teachers lounge for some reason; it wasn't necessary at all. I felt like an idiot trailing behind a teacher, but then again there weren't many people in yet so it didn't matter I guess.

"Dad, can I go?" I asked eventually.

He finally registered the fact that I was still there and smiled at me. "Yes, of course. The assembly is in the main hall after the bell rings." he said.

I nodded and scurried out the room and down the stairs. It was a relief being away from all those teacher. They probably expect big things from me. Well they're going to be in for a shock, I'm not exactly very intelligent on any levels at all. Paying attention isn't really a hobby of mine either; I tend to space out and when I snap back into reality I find I'm just absently staring at the clock. Teachers never become my friends, they think I'm a lovely little girl at first and before they know it they're throwing detentions at me like they're going out of fashion. Well they kind of were, it wasn't exactly something people liked to waste time going to.

I broke out of my train of thoughts as I felt myself collide with someone and fall to the ground. "Sorry." I squeaked in an oddly shrill voice. I felt a tinge of pink spread across my face. I looked up at the person who I had fallen against who was much quicker in recovering. I quickly scrambled to a stand and raked my fringe out of my eyes which had fallen over them at the sudden unusual jerk.

"My fault, sorry." he said with a slight smile. I giggled timidly. That was another annoying thing about me, I was always so shy around people I don't know. Then when I do get to know them I'm positively the complete opposite. I then noticed another girl who seemed to look unusually like the boy except obviously for being the opposite genders. I looked between them several times in confusion.

"Twins." the other girl spoke up eventually.

I mentally slapped myself. "Of course." I murmured, feeling like an absolute fool. Another shade of red was overlapping the first on my face and was probably a sight to be laughing at. I looked back at the boy who was looking back, probably thinking I was thick or something. I hovered between the two, unsure of what to do before I eventually scuffled over to the girl. "I'm Luna." I introduced myself politely with a small smile. I forced myself to keep my eyes off the boy or else I'd probably end up staring. He must be one of the best looking guys I had ever seen, and his eyes were so dark too.

"Grace." the girl said, who was also unbelievably pretty. She resembled the boy who's name I was still unaware of so much. I can't believe I didn't realise they were twins at first. Must have been my natural thickness kicking in at the time.

"Gary, pleased to meet you." the boy said. I smiled inwardly at his politeness. So far I couldn't find anything wrong with him, but then again I had only known him for a few seconds. Usually when there's a fine guy though he's either mean of impolite, but he hadn't said I was an idiot or anything for not realising the obvious so he had both of those things crossed out.

When I snapped out of my dreaming we were in the hall which was where dad said the assembly would be. They both went to the back so I just hovered around to look for a seat. In the end I plopped on one near the side, out of the way. After feeling like a twat for the second time in the space of an hour I didn't want to do anything else to embarrass myself. All the seats were soon filled and the assembly started. Like usual I ended up dazing off and didn't even register the name of the principal or anything.

My eyes wandered over the people and I scowled under my breath when I saw green hair. Green; that was one of the many things that annoyed me par to co-ordinating, geography and grass type Pokémon. Come to think of it, I only disliked grass type Pokémon because they reminded me of nature which ties in with geography and the 'grass' part reminds me of the stuff that grows, which is evidently usually green. I didn't get to see his face though, but I was somewhat put off by simply his hair. Plus it was an irritating bright green; everything I dislike in one. He'll be a co-ordinator next; wouldn't that be funny. Then he would be literally everything I dislike in one.

There was another guy who shocked me; he had neon pink hair. My first impressions were gay, and he certainly had the feminine face to pull it off. He also had charming emerald eyes which most girls would be envious in having. I doubt many guys would be though, they weren't exactly the kind of eyes people like on guys, they just looked weird. If it wasn't for the fact he was wearing trousers instead of a skirt and his chest was flat then I would have mistaken him for a girl. He even had a feminine build, although it was blatant he worked out. I stifled a giggle at the pure sight of him and drew my attention to someone else.

There was a girl with actual snow white hair. At first I thought it was silver, but now I was sure it was white. It must be a nightmare to keep clean, my hair is bad enough. Before I knew it the assembly was over and we were queuing up to get our timetables. When I retrieved my timetable I found Grace and Gary had both been in the same line too, and they both came over to me. Grace ended up comparing our timetables, and I smiled when I realised that I did have some lessons with them both. Apparently I didn't for the first lesson though, I had physical education. Great, I detest running. It's on the list of the many things I despise. It would be a good way to wake myself up though in the morning, but having it last thing would have been so much better. Instead I have battles last thing, but not in the same room as Grace and Gary.

Gary actually began conversing with me though and I must have broken a record because once more I felt like an idiot, stammering my words like someone with a terrible lisp. "I have PE now." I mumbled, getting sick of making a fool of myself. I quickly scurried off to one of the gyms and left the two siblings together. The school was so much bigger and I had to stop various times to look at some of the maps of the schools on the walls of the building. In times like these I would have loved to be good at geography, but I did find my way there eventually – late. And once more Luna Lockheart makes a fool of herself, walking into the gym and having to stammer that I got lost. The teacher brushed it off and indicated that I should take a seat on the bench while she continued lecturing the class on the do's and don'ts of this class.

We didn't do anything at all that class except listen to the teacher talk. It just went in one ear and out the other. I would probably be finding some excuse to get out of PE each week so it didn't matter. My next class was Design Technology which was a double. I remembered that Grace and Gary were both in that class and I went in search of the classroom. This one was a bit easier to find since I was nearer to it, and when I entered I found Grace talking to another girl with dark hair. Her hair was actually really cool with the tips dyed red. I wondered if I should go over but when Grace noticed me and gestured me over I instantly complied. She introduced the other girl as Victorie De Blume, which is a name I'd never thought I'd hear before. I recall my mother mentioning something about the sir name De Blume and the Devon Crop., but I hadn't really listened. She learnt it all from her oh so brilliant new Hoenn magazines and newspapers.

When we settled into class and the teacher came in I could have died. I sank low in the seat and propped the book up in a desperate attempt to hide myself. The teacher introduced himself as Mr. Lockheart, and thankfully the other two didn't know my last name. They didn't notice my stiff and uneasy behaviour either, but my Dad clearly noticed me. I was afraid he'd say something but he just smiled slightly and got back to teaching. I had never been so gratefully for not having an embarrassing father. He decided he'd teach us how to make Pokéballs out of acorns. Acorns for heavens sake! I didn't even know that was possible, let alone that my Dad knew how to do it. I dithered with the instructions that he wrote on the board and Victorie had to help me and Grace who also didn't know really what to do, saying it was a Jhoto tradition or something. What a strange tradition, but I kept my mouth shut for one of the few times in my life. Insulting someone and their native region who wants to be my friend and who helps me isn't a very good idea.

By the end of the double period we actual had working acorn Pokéballs. I never thought I'd ever be able to say I had made a Pokéball from an acorn. If I told any of my old friends they'd claim I'm lying. I'm not sure if I believe it myself, what a ludicrous thing. Acorns for Pokéballs, where is this world coming to where we can't just buy a normal Pokéball in the PokéMart. Whoever invented this must have either been desperate or bored beyond comparison. I switched off from my inner conversation and attempted to navigate to my next class; Geography. I actually hit the book against my forehead in exasperation. Several people gave me odd looks and I flushed red. This was getting tiresome now, maybe I should just act like a normal schoolgirl.

I managed to get to class on time and I flopped into a seat as far away at the back as possible in a corner. Maybe I'd just go unnoticed and blend in with the walls. Of forget it, the walls are some pale blue shade and my hair which I would refer to as normal colored stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the multitude of flamboyant vibrant colours. The girl from assembly with white hair took a seat beside me and she actually looked so visibly shy she almost appeared she'd get sick at any minute. I felt kind of bad for her and smiled kindly. The timidly smiled back and fumbled with her book.

"Eh, hey." I said, trying to start some form of conversation. "I'm Luna."

"Ashe." she introduced herself in a small whisper. I almost didn't here her.

"Um, are you from Hoenn?" I asked, trying to stay on topic since we were in Geography. Hopefully some kind of spark will ignite within her and she would begin socializing a little better.

"No, Kanto." she breathed. "You?"

I swear she's using the most minimal amount of words as possible. "I'm from Sinnoh." I said, probably in a voice a little too proud.

"Oh yeah, you have a Sinnoh accent." she stated with a tiny grin.

Well I didn't no I even had an accent, so it was news to me. Then again it's not something you notice, and I don't pay any mind to accents. "Have you been to Sinnoh before then?" I enquired curiously.

She nodded slightly. "Yeah, most of my relatives work there." she explained.

"So why'd you move to Hoenn?" I would have expected her to move to Sinnoh then.

"Oh, because my Mum's a co-ordinator and decided to go to this region and Dad decided to move too." she said, not noticing my flinch at the word co-ordinator. I found it a little harder to smile as genuinely now.

"Okay, do you want to be a co-ordinator?" I asked suspiciously. To my despair she nodded happily, and suddenly her shyness vanished. She began talking all about co-ordinators and how great of a one her mother was. I nodded and tried to remain polite, and when she asked for my opinions I tried to stay genuine but kind. "Actually I don't really like co-ordinating, I prefer to be a trainer." I admitted.

Her smile loosened slightly. "Oh, well everyone's entitled to their opinions." she said. "Oh, here's the teacher. He's a bit late though."

I nodded and tuned out to this class completely. Like I stated earlier, I hate geography. I grunted when my name was called in the role and that was the only response I gave to anything for a while. I only jumped suddenly when I heard my name shouted. I snapped into reality and gazed innocently at a teacher I was unaware of the name of.

"Have you gone into some kind of catatonic trance?" she snapped angrily.

Oh my, they think they're so clever don't they. I gazed back blankly to show her I had no idea what the word catatonic even meant. "I'm sorry, but my vocabulary doesn't consist of many words past four syllables." I retorted sharper then necessary.

"Vocabulary has four syllables." the teacher stated matter of factly.

I rolled my eyes mentally. "Doesn't consist of many more words past four syllables." I repeated, unnecessarily overemphasizing the words many more.

"Then maybe you should get a dictionary and look it up." she growled back.

"I don't read dictionaries for fun, it's not exactly an exciting hobby that appeals to me." I said. "I don't even own a dictionary, never mind spend my time reading one. I wouldn't have the time or peace to do it anyway."

"Oh is that so, well maybe you should find some form of way to increase your vocabulary because it could help you so you're not just staring blankly back when someone says something you don't know the meaning to." she snapped.

I was getting bored already with this conversation. "I didn't stare back at you, I stated I didn't know the meaning of the word and then you decided to order me to read dictionaries in my spare time."

"I didn't say that, I said you should look up the meaning of the word in a dictionary." she corrected me.

"I'm afraid I don't own one so I'll have to discard that suggestion." I replied.

"Well maybe you should consider buying one. Now answer the question on the board like I asked you six times." She stabbed a finger on one of the questions. "You took down the answer before I rubbed it out on the board, right?"

I looked down at my back copy page and looked back up. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I don't tend to listen to stuff that bores me." I said rudely. The class sure seemed to be enjoying the lovely dispute between teacher and student.

"I'm going to let this go since this is your first day." she growled warningly. I shrugged in a whatever way while she asked another student although she glared at me from the corner of her eye. I simply ignored her and dashed out of the classroom when the bell rang for lunch. Well I had already made enemies with my first teacher and it was only the first day, Dad will be thrilled to bits I'm sure.

I was actually stopped in the corridor by my dad. I smiled warily at him and he was instantly suspicious. "Anything I should know about before I go up to the teacher's lounge?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Um…well I don't think my Geography teacher likes me." I stated, twirling a lock of my hair around my finger sheepishly.

He arched an eyebrow in question. "And why would that be." I ended up explaining to him as he let out an exasperated sigh. "Luna, I don't need this again. Remember what happened in your last school? It was good you moved here else you would have gotten expelled."

"I know dad, sorry." I murmured guiltily. "I'll try better I promise." I then skipped off around him and into the crowds. I found Grace sitting at a lunch table with Gary and some purple haired guy. I remembered seeing him by the weird green haired guy and I frowned slightly. He seemed so stiff and strange. Victorie whizzed beside me in a moment and we both went over to the table.

Gary and the mysterious purple haired boy were talking about battling so us three girls just conversed. When the green haired boy guy appeared the purple haired one left. I mentally felt like a fool, referring to these strangers by their queer hair colours. Grace seemed rather aggravated when he left and Gary just kept his gaze fixed on his food.

"Wow, you do pick yours friends." He chuckled and looked up at his sister's red face. Me and Victorie exchanged looks when she scowled at him and returned to eating her food, obviously venting her anger on the defenceless things. It was rather amusing but I decided to keep quiet bout it and kept my own eyes fixed on my food to avoid them diverting unconsciously.

**.::^-^::.**

My last lesson was battles; a double. It wasn't too bad, and the strange green and purple inseparable boys were in the same class also. I now got a good look at the green haired boys face and I couldn't believe it. He was beautiful, but not in the way I'd be attracted to him. I'd seen him in Design Technology but never paid much attention to him, I just noticed he was rather pretty looking. He kind of reminded me of a prince, it was just the hair, it needed to be blonde. I actually had to battle him in the end so I went to the field where he was already waiting. I then learnt his name was Drew, which I assumed was short for Andrew or something.

We both threw are Pokéballs at the same time; mine releasing my first Pokémon Vulpix given to me by the daycare in Solaceon Town when they had an egg without an owner, and his being a Roselia, a grass type. My eye twitched in irritation at the smug look on his face that matched the Pokémon's, even if I had a type advantage. It reminded me of the overconfident arrogant look of a co-ordinator. I waited for him to take the first move.

"Magical Leaf." he ordered. His Pokemon complied and leaves flew out from the two roses which were used as hands.

They automatically flew towards Vulpix who simply used ember without a command. "Sunny Day." I said simply when all the leaves was been safely burnt to cinders. "Then spin and Flamethrower."

The light of the room instantly increased tenfold at the strength of the first move, temporarily blinding everyone. Whilst everyone shielded their eyes me and Drew just winced. He must be used to the move, so I wondered if he could possibly have a move which would use it to his advantage. Vulpix knew what my second order meant and did a somersault whilst sending an intense Flamethrower to coat its body before lunging towards the Roselia.

"Dodge and Stun Spore." Drew ordered.

The grass Pokémon jumped gracefully out the way and let a coat of golden spores drift over Vulpix. Some of the fire scattered around the grass Pokemon when Vulpix struck the ground and the move broke. It didn't take me long to distinguish the boy as a co-ordinator by how his Pokémon was using all my moves to its advantage. "Safeguard." I said before the stun spore struck my Pokémon. The field instantly covered it, protecting it from the paralyzing spores.

"Leech Seed." he retaliated. While Roselia was still in the air, it closed one eye and took aim with one of its roses. A moment later it fired the seed which easily attached itself to Vulpix. It connected with the fire type and vines sprung from inside it and covered my Pokémon.

I knew whenever it moved or attacked it would get hurt, so I quickly thought of a way to discard it. "Fire Spin on the ground." I said. I knew Vulpix's Flash fire ability would protect it and it was engulfed in flames which evidently burnt off the seed with minimal damage done.

"Solar Beam down the centre." Drew said. He knew well that Vulpix couldn't escape till the fire burnt out on its own and with the sun the move wouldn't need changing. I narrowed my eyes as Roselia leapt into the air and readied itself to fire the bright beam of light.

"Flamethrower up Vulpix!" I cried, hoping the Sunny Day's added strength might par or be stronger then the Solar Beam. Both moves fire simultaneously, although Vulpix's was concealed from view. When both moves made contact the Fire Spin scattered, unable to hold both moves within it. Both moves were even, and we both waiting in anticipation to see which Pokémon would falter first. I flexed my hand nervously When the Solar Beam began gaining its own over the Flamethrower. After a few moments I knew Vulpix was going to lose, and the knowing smirk and Drew's face indicated he knew also. I closed my eyes and quickly recalled all of Vulpix's moves. "Disable!" I eventually shouted.

The fire type's eyes twinkled and before the Solar Beam struck it faded into insignificance whilst the Flamethrower took over. In a heartbeat Roselia was struck critically by the attack and Drew blinked in surprise. I couldn't stop the grin of contentment from almost taking over my face at seeing the bewildered look on another co-ordinators face. I didn't plan on losing to one that was sure. That would be utterly humiliating and I didn't want it to be added to my series of embarrassing moments today. Satisfying enough Roselia didn't get up and Drew was forced to return it after a sharp glare in my direction. I gave him a mocking two fingers salute whilst returning my own Pokémon. After when I sat down to watch another battle, this one between Paul and the guy with pink hair from assembly I looked around for him.

"Looking for someone?" I heard someone ask above me.

I looked up with a bored expression. "Not really." I replied bluntly.

"Good battle, I though I had you there." he said, deciding to take a seat beside me.

"I don't lose to co-ordinators." I stated in a monotonous voice which matched my pokerfaced expression.

"I'm guessing you don't like them then."

"Congrats Captain obvious."

"Well sorry for breathing."

I didn't bother to respond. I don't know why I was being so mean; probably because everything I despise is wrapped up in this one boy. Yeah, I'm not usually that bad with co-ordinators. I just sat in silence and watched the battle. It was the last match before the bell went and when it did I had to go find Dad who was my lift home.

**.::^-^::.**

I stopped my chopping for a minute to watch my dad. He had decided to make a barbeque and I was the one stuck with chopping the chutney while mum was in the shower. Kayla was playing with my Vulpix happily so at least she wasn't annoying me. My dad was acting like a moron though, flailing the metal spatula around in an attempt to swat a tiny baby Beedrill. It was rather amusing to watch and Kayla had also stopped what she was doing to observe the scene.

The Beedrill was actually rather clever, zipping in between the holes of the spatula whenever it threatened to strike it. Dad stopped momentarily to catch his breath and the insect situated itself in the empty box where some form of meat had been in. Taking advantage of the situation dad slammed the spatula down on it once more. It caught the edge of the box which flew into the air and landed somewhere near my Vulpix which scurried off to attack the plastic. My eyes followed the Beedrill though which flew into the air doing several somersaults before landing on the burning barbeque which burnt the insect into oblivion.

I giggled at the sight and continued in de-stoning a Mago berry then chopping the unarmed fruit into small random squares. I actually felt bad for it, I mean, having a sharp blade dispose of your core and then skinning off your skin. After that chopping your flesh up into random chunks. Suddenly I felt like the biggest idiot in history, feeling sorry for a _fruit_. I mentally slapped myself for being so thick, which was beginning to get tiresome. I diverted my mental concentration to Gary from earlier, then stopped when I felt a blush forcing its way onto my cheeks. Everything was against me! I decided to think about checking my e-mails instead, and silently recalled my address so I could login after tea.

* * *

_Thank youuzz~  
Reviews are appreciated ;]_

**- - - - - - - - - - - -  
****» Sc a r l e t t ; :  
****- - - - - - - - - - - -**


	6. Victorie : Schedule Switch

Schedule Switch

Victorie's First Day

I was going to be honest. The first day of school, so far, wasn't so bad. Assembly was okay, I made two new acquaintances who seemed friendly enough. Luna Lockheart was one of them. I met her during my Design Technology class; I helped her make a pokeball from apricorns. It wasn't hard, a man named Kurt had taught me how to make them when my father took me along with him on a business trip to Azalea Town. Though I remember that it took me _ages _to convince Kurt to teach me how. He wasn't exactly the friendliest of people.

Grace Oak was the other girl, I met her in my first class. We were studying bug pokemon, or something like that. The teacher had tested us on our bug pokemon knowledge. I had no trouble with the bug pokemon from Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh. The Hoenn bug types were the same as the Sinnoh ones for the most part, so it wasn't too bad.

I would have really preferred it if we were talking about ghost pokemon. I might be bragging, but I'm an expert on them. No wonder, I've spent half of my life studying them, training them, taking care of them, all of it. Thanks to Morty. It's all his fault I like ghost type pokemon so much.

It's also all his fault that I found a pokeball on my bedside this morning. Well, his and my dad's. Morty decided to get me a 'moving away present.' He thought that I should have some knowledge on Hoenn ghost type pokemon, so what did he do?

He gave me one.

I decided that I would test my lovely new pokemon's strength in battle later when I had battling. Sometime before lunch. I pulled out my schedule from my messenger bag that was slung over my shoulder. I scanned the paper. I just had Design Technology. The block after that was… Coordinating? What? I didn't sign up for that class!

I figured that I would just go to the main office and ask them to fix my schedule. As I headed over to the front desk, I stumbled into a boy about my age, if not maybe a year older. He had amazing chartreuse hair that looked silky soft, and absolutely gorgeous features- hang on. Get a grip Victorie! You have a schedule to fix!

I shook my head and quickly apologized before stepping aside and heading for the woman who was sitting behind the big desk. I felt a hand grab my arm. I turned around, annoyed. My aqua colored eyes met emerald ones. Oh please don't tell me it's the guy I bumped into again.

"Look, I already apologized for bumping into you." I said, my voice having a sharp edge to it. "And more than that you won't be getting from me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get my schedule fixed; I don't want to be stuck in a coordinating class." I felt the hand let go of my arm. I made a move to head towards the counter, but the boy's voice surprised me enough to stop.

"Oh what now, you don't like coordinating?" His voice was smooth, with a bit of a haughty edge to it. Damn, I probably just insulted his choice of profession. I tried my best to stay cool. "I don't have anything against coordinators, or the art of coordinating in general. I just find it dull compared to battling." The green haired boy chuckled. "I see. You said you're in a coordinating class next?" I nodded in reply. "Keep it like that; you can change it later. I want to prove to you that coordinating isn't as dull as you think it is."

Now that sounded like the sort of offer I'd be willing to take him up on. I was curious. Maybe, just maybe, this coordinator-in-the-making could impress me. I smirked before replying; "Well then, I guess waiting a bit for a class change can't hurt. Show me what coordinating is made of, if you're so enthusiastic about it."

I followed him to a large classroom that connected with an outdoor stage, which was used to for contest appeal practice. The green haired boy sat down inside the classroom. I followed suit and sat down next to him. I looked at the clock that was hanging on the off-white wall. Seven minutes of break left. Seven minutes I had to spend in an awkward silence with this guy I just met. Heck, I don't even know his name. Guess I'd better figure that out first.

"So, do you have a name, or am I just supposed to call you Mr. Coordinator all the time?" I teased. From the corner of my eye I saw him smirk before flipping his silky bangs. I refrained from rolling my eyes. "Drew," he said finally. "Drew Hayden Stone. But Mr. Coordinator works too." I gaped. "No way, you're Steven's son? He told me about you last night." Drew nodded thoughtfully. "Then you must be Victorie de Blume. My father requested that I look out for you. Hmm, does that make me a babysitter?" This time, I really did roll my eyes. "You wish. You're not my caretaker either, don't get any ideas." I paused when he smirked again.

Right as I opened my mouth to reply again, the bell rang and students poured into the classroom. There were so many, it was all a blur of color. I couldn't make out any of them, except for 'Mr. Coordinator' who was sitting beside me, not surprised whatsoever. To say the least, I was stunned. I didn't realize that coordinating was so popular.

When everyone had settled down, class began. The teacher decided that we should get to know each other through our appeals. What she meant by that, I had no idea. Drew however, seemed to understand, and volunteered to go first. The class moved outside, where we all took seats on the emerald grass while Drew went on stage.

"Roselia, show time." He flicked his hair and twirled a pokeball between two fingers before released a beautiful, and very healthy looking, grass pokemon. The roses on its hands glittered in the sunlight, and the serene smile on its face- just wow. Talk about a well trained pokemon. I wonder if my pokemon looked like that to others.

"Roselia, Sunny Day and Grasswhistle combo!" I watched in awe as his Roselia responded to the command without any hesitation. All of a sudden, the sun shone brighter and beat down on the area a bit harder, but you could faintly make out sparkles in the air. Roselia opened its petite mouth and began to sing. I felt drowsy, my eyelids fought to keep themselves open. No surprise there though, Grasswhistle is supposed to make the opponent fall asleep. I looked up onto the stage and watched golden streams flow from the grass pokemon's roses and dance around it before curving upwards and weaving itself into a moving golden globe that gleamed in the powerful sunlight.

"Petal Dance." Delicate pink petals flew from Roselia's outstretched rosy arms and struck the orb, the force causing it to burst in a shower of sparkles, proceeding to enhance the already gorgeous petals. I stared in wonder, feeling a strange thrill. I was exhilarated. It was like the type of feeling you get from battling, or watching a battle, but this feeling was just a bit different.

After being showered with compliments and congratulations from both students and teacher for a wonderful performance, Drew came and sat down beside me. He smirked. "And?" He asked, his emerald eyes dancing . "Did I succeed in proving to you that coordinating isn't boring?" I nodded bashfully. Drew chuckled before pressing something soft into my hand. I looked downwards. In my pal was a red rose. Where in the world did he get that from? Nevertheless, I curled my fingers around the stem and smiled at him. I could have sworn that he smiled back, but I was sure. For all I know, he was probably smirking again.

Class was dismissed a few appeals afterwards. I admit, I didn't feel the same thrill that I did when watching Drew's performance for the others. They were just a tad bit bland compared to his. I wasn't about to tell him that though, as we walked to the cafeteria. We paused once inside and he turned to me. "See you in battling class then?" I stared. "You battle too?" He looked at me with a raised eyebrow before laughing. "Well don't you think highly of coordinators? Yes, I do battle." I couldn't help but giggle. I should have remembered that coordinators have to battle in the final rounds of a contest. "See you later, Victorie." I watched as he flipped his hair and walked off towards a dark brown haired boy, who resembled Grace. Maybe they were siblings. I smirked. Well, I guess he wasn't _too_ bad. From what I've seen so far, his personality doesn't resemble his father's, but hey, mine doesn't resemble my dad's either. Fingering the rose he gave me before tucking it away in my hair, I headed off to find Grace and Luna.

--~*~--

Battle class came along a couple classes after lunch, and true to his word, Drew was there. We had a choice between doing single battles and double battles. Since I wanted to take Morty's place in the gym one day, I would need to be especially good with single battles. So, I chose those. I knew that double battles would also come in handy, but for the moment, single battles would have to do. Plus, I wanted to bond with the pokemon that Morty caught for me.

"Time for some fun, Sabeye!" A little, purple, humanoid like pokemon broke free from its red and white confinement. Two jeweled eyes glittered like sapphires in the light, the eagerness to play imminent. I smiled. Though I hadn't really wanted a Sableye, it was a fine choice. I had to remember to send Morty a letter and thank him.

My opponent sent out a Swellow; a normal and flying type pokemon native to Hoenn. Might be a tad bit on the tricky side to fight, since I had never battled one before, and they were known to be super speedy. I'd have to keep that in mind when fighting. You never know when common knowledge could prove to be _very_ useful.

"Swellow, Wing Attack!" The blue bird didn't hesitate to streak towards Sableye, wings glowing a blinding white. "Sableye, dodge and use Scratch!" The ghost pokemon twirled away from the oncoming Swellow and used its own extreme speed to catch the flying type off guard as its claws raked into its opponent's feathery back. The Swellow crashed into the ground.

"Get up and use your Double Team and Aerial Ace combo, Swellow!" My opponent, a girl with dark blue hair, demanded. The flying type flapped its wings repeatedly in a hurried manner, raising itself from the floor and flying away a few years before making a quick U-Turn and flying headfirst towards Sableye, this time with dozens of copies beside it. I had no idea which one was the real one and from the looks of it, neither did Sableye.

"Sableye, Mean Look!" The ghost didn't hesitate to give the birds the most dark glare it could muster, making them freeze in surprise. The copies flickered in midair, giving me at the and Sableye the opportunity to find the real one, aka the one that wasn't flickering. "Shadow Claw!" I commanded.

Little did I realize that the particular move I chose wouldn't do a ton of damage since the Swellow was half normal type. It did do enough damange to knock it out though, leaving me (and Sableye of course), victorious. I high fived the little ghost before returning it to its dual color sphere. Moments later, class was dismissed and all students made a beeline for the exit. I chose to wait, rather than be pushed and shoved. Good thing I did too, because it just so happened that someone wanted to talk to me.

"Victorie!" I turned my head as my name was called. Coming up from behind me was Drew, and following him was a dark brown haired boy whom I vaguely recognized as Grace's brother. I gave a wave to the two boys as they drew near. "What's up?" Drew responded in a pleasant tone; "My grandfather sent me a message, asking me to take you to the Devon building – he has something for you. And this guy," he pointed to his friend, "Was just walking with me. Have you met? This is Gary Oak." I smiled at Gary. "Pleasure to meet you. I know your sister, she's lovely. I'm Victorie de Blume." Gary nodded with a small smile. "Nice to meet you. Anyway, Drew, Victorie, I'd better go. Grace is probably waiting for me. See ya."

He vanished through the main entrance door. Drew turned me to me. "We should probably get moving too." I nodded, agreeing with him, and seconds later, we both vanished through the main entrance door as well.

--~*~--

"So how was the rest of your day?" I asked pleasantly as the two of us walked down the street-side pathway towards the large Devon Corporation building. "I saw you were battling Luna during last period. Your Roselia is really powerful, you must have trained her really well." Drew smirked, which didn't surprise me, and then flicked his hair.

I had a feeling that I would be seeing a lot of that.

"Roselia and I have been training together for a couple years now. We're still working on the entire type advantage and weakness thing though. Your Sableye looks fairly well trained. Have you had it for long?" I shook my head, surprised that he admitted that he wasn't the best. I thought that he would have been the type to do that. I guess people are more surprising than I thought they were. "Not at all. Today was my first time battling with it. We did well though, except I forgot that Swellow was half normal, which reduced the damage that Shadow Claw did to it."

He chuckled. "An amateur's mistake." I froze in my tracks and turned to glare at him. "_Excuse me?_" He shrugged and continued to walk. "I'm just saying that only an amateur would forget something like that." I felt my cheeks flare as anger rushed through me. "And this is coming from _you_, oh overconfident one? What would have you have done if you were in my position at the time, hotshot?"

This time he paused. "Used Slash, or Scratch in your low leveled case, and knocked out the Swellow, doing more damage than that of a Shadow Claw." I narrowed my eyes. "And use a move that brings you close to the Swellow _and_ all of its copies leaving you completely vulnerable if it was faking? I don't think so." I marched past him, headed towards his grandfather's company building. "If you'll excuse me, I have more important matters to attend to rather than argue with a coordinator about battling."

I didn't see him again that afternoon. And that rose he gave me? I ended up giving it to some little girl who was upset about a lost balloon.

I did see his grandfather however, who was totally surprised that Drew wasn't with me. When he asked where he was, I said that we had a little 'misunderstanding' and I ended up going without him. As much as I disliked him at the moment, I wasn't mean enough to tell his grandfather that we had an argument and let him get in trouble. Mr. Stone nodded at my words, saying that accidents happen, and then proceeded to talk to me about how school was and if I needed anything. Then he gave me a PokeNav, courtesy of the company. It was a gorgeous midnight color (aka black), and I couldn't help but stare at it in awe. After thanking him over and over again, I left the building and headed home.

--~*~--

"How was your first day at school, Tori?" My father greeted me with my nickname and a bear hug. I struggled to breathe. "Need… to breathe… dad." He let go and plopped down on our cushy brown beige sofa with a smile. I headed for the kitchen, which wasn't too far away. "It wasn't bad. I had a mixed up schedule, had to get that fixed. I met with Steven's son too… he was pretty nice until he and I argued. But yeah, things happen." I poked my head over the kitchen counter and smiled at my dad, who looked concerned. "Mr. Stone gave me a PokeNav! It has your number, his number, and Steven's number on speed dial already. You're number one!"

My dad nodded, still looking a bit concerned. And I swore I saw fear in those eyes of his. Then it struck me. I giggled. "Don't worry dad, I'm not having 'guy troubles.' You're safe for now." He looked relieved and we laughed together. "Anyway, dad, I'm gonna go to my room. I have a thank you letter to write. If you need me, just knock!"

And I disappeared up the stairs and in my room.

* * *

**Not as long as Besanii's or Scarlett, but I have school. ;-;**

**Enjoy! ~ Sa-chan x  
**


	7. Grace : Doubts

****

Hahaa, I guess I should start day two then?

Doubts.

Grace.

"Wake up, Grace we're late!"

It's not the greatest way to be woken up, but these things happen. I don't even remember being shoved into my own room as I blindly straightened my hair. I didn't even register for a while when UI burnt my ear, but I eventually squealed.

Of course, Gary was ready before me, so he made us breakfast for us to eat quickly. He'd already finished by the time I was dressed.

"Come on, we'll take my scooter." He grabbed onto my wrist, yanking me to the point where I had to drag my heels so I could reach my bag.

It's so unfair, Gary gets a scooter. It's fast too, and yet I'm not allowed one. It's like I'm the silly little young sister, when actually, I'm twenty minutes older than him.

I thanked myself that I had straightened my hair, because if I hadn't then I would have serious helmet hair. It's not a pretty sight.

We arrived on time, and Gary left me to lock his scooter away so I could head off to Registration. He and his lankly legs managed to reach me before we hurried down the deserted halls, my new shoes clipping annoyingly and echoed along.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked worriedly, I obviously didn't sleep quietly last night. I nodded; "I'll be fine, school should take my mind off it."

He eyed me carefully as we entered the room, but I was too busy apologising to our teacher. She smiled and explained she had already received notification from the office; Grandpappy must have already given us an excuse.

After the bell rang, I suddenly realised the reason I refused to get up this morning. Gym was first, which meant one thing; Paul. I dreaded to be under that glare he so commonly used on me, I'd only known him a day, how could I have made him hate me so? I shivered at the thought.

"I'll see you later." I waved to my brother, who smiled and walked to whatever lesson he had; I swear he told me but I was too busy panicking about this lesson.

I changed into the hideous gym kit; a navy polo neck shirt and shorts, with a skirt over the top. What really completed the look were the bright yellow socks we had to wear, but they matched the logo on out skirt and top. We all looked ridiculous.

This teacher I'd already grown a disliking for decided that today we were going to run. At least that was something I was fairly decent at, after being outrun by Gary day after day, I learnt to push my legs to the point where I practically flew my distance.

He took us onto the tracks, and that's where I first bumped into Paul. I say bump a little lightly, I actually sprinted into him and sent both of us crashing into the floor. I cringed as he rolled his eyes at me, and I scrambled up and uttered an apology and offered a hand.

"Just watch where you're going next time." He spat at me, it really wasn't the right day to do such a thing to me. I was pretty sure there wasn't going to _be _a next time.

Thankfully for him, the teacher called me up before I had chance to retaliate. Our glares managed to break from each other and I took to my lane. I'd been put with a group of girls, if they were as feminine as they were acting at the starting line; I knew I could be at the finishing line before they'd got half way.

"On your marks… Go!" The teacher shouted, and I took off as fast as I could. I was quite shocked at how I'd improved, I was only small, but my legs could move! 100 metres was a breeze, I was done within fifteen seconds or so.

I looked back to the teacher who looked like he'd nearly had a heart attack, so assuming I'd done my bit for the day, I collapsed onto the grass and lay back to watch the clouds go by as the class took their turn.

"You're fast."

I snorted at the statement; "You sound surprised."

"I am."

I was growing more impatient with his two worded replies by the second. I heard him sit next to me, although he was sweating as if he'd only just finished his run, he wasn't panting at all.

"I'm still the better trainer." He smirked, I closed my eyes gently and counted up to three slowly before I replied; "That's because I don't want to be a trainer."

He didn't reply; it was obvious he didn't care. All he wanted was a reaction; I decided I better not give him one. Satisfying him would only make him do it again in the future.

"Are you from around here?" I asked as pleasantly as I possibly could. I opened my eyes to see him nod. "Why do you have a Turtwig?"

"My brother gave it to me from Sinnoh." He said blankly, with a hint of "it's not your business" in his tone. I sat up an examined his expression from the right angle, and he glowered back at me.

"What?" He asked bluntly, I searched frantically in my head for something to say so I didn't embarrass myself.

"Me and my brother are heading to Slateport for the beach at the weekend, want to come?" I blurted and instantly regretted it. That was supposed to be mine and Gary's way of settling into Hoenn, Paul was probably going to ruin it with his attitude. That is _if _he said yes.

"Sure, if that means I'll get a battle out of him finally."

I controlled my face to stop it from contorting into a grimace, how I _wished_ I could have just said I was staring at his face for no reason.

* * *

Lunchtime was my time for venting this annoyance; "Why did I ask? He's completely going to ignore me anyway! And when he doesn't he'll be scowling at me in a way that makes me feel this big!" I pinched my fingers together.

Gary sighed; "Because you like him."

I glared at my dumb-ass brother, and Luna giggled nervously; "It makes sense, you could have said anything else."

"But you didn't," Victorie added; "and you secretly know why."

It was simply not true, how could I even have a stupid little school-girl crush on him? He was uncrushable, if that's even a word.

"Well if you're inviting friends," he received another glare for that word; "then I get to invite these two, right?" Gary grinned, completely ignoring my lack of enthusiasm for this trip at all now. The two girls sat opposite me squealed in harmony, we took it as a yes. I forced a smile for them, I didn't want them to think I was upset about them coming, it was just him. I'm such an idiot.

"Hey Grace, can I borrow your Kirlia? We're doing psychic Pokémon in researching next."

It was pretty clear Gary was trying his best to change the conversation, because he'd forgotten a tiny detail; "I'm in your class." I frowned; of course I'd need some form of researching ability if I wanted to be a Nurse.

Luna laughed at him as he grinned foolishly; "Oh yeah, we didn't compare all out time table last night…"

I smiled, at least the topic change was working. We set off into deep conversation, but it was interrupted when the two girls looked over our heads quickly, and then flicked back in my direction. I was stupid to turn around, but did, and when I turned back I was flustered a bright red because he had glared at me again.

Before any of them could say anything, I quickly spoke out; "isn't that boy the one you sat next to in D&T?" I looked to my brother, who nodded. I didn't even know the beautiful boy's name.

"Drew." Victorie said, and Luna nodded in confirmation. I must be just a little slow to this name game. Victorie was suddenly very quiet, but I left it a little while in case I was just reading into it a little too much.

"I battled him yesterday; he wants to be a coordinator." Luna spat a little too acidicly. "I won of course."

I nodded, deciding not to ask her about her opinion on contests; it was pretty apparent. I looked at Victorie, who was stabbing at her lunch, then to Gary, who shrugged slightly.

"Tori?" I hadn't heard this nickname, Luna must have picked it up in a lesson they'd had without me. The girl looked up quickly and glanced between our faces. "Is there something wrong?" Gary asked carefully, I kicked him in the shin, and he reflexively punched me in the arm.

"He's not exactly the nicest of people_ either_." She said quietly as she glanced back down at her meal. She suddenly grasped her soda and guzzled it down quickly, then stood up; "I need some fresh air, I'll see you soon, 'kay?"

We nodded with a frown playing across each of our faces, and once she left I looked back at my remaining friends; "Would it be hypocritical to say that she has to feel something for him?"

"Yes." They said in unison, and we all burst into laughter. I had no more lessons with that jerk today, I didn't think, so I should be happy for the rest of the day.

* * *

Pokémon research was fun, and as Gary said; we looked at psychic Pokémon. So we got to look at my Kirlia. She sat on the edge of the desk patiently as we wrote about her emotion senses, and nodded to any questions we had for her. I was very proud of her, and apparently she is a beautiful blue Kirlia. I didn't realise they were green usually, and neither had Gary when he caught her.

So today was pretty special for me; I owned a rare coloured Kirlia.

Lesson's went pretty downhill from there; History, enough said. I sat at the front of the class alone, because I knew that was the only way I'd keep from distraction.

Obviously the girls who were sat behind me didn't realise it was me, and apparently I'm quite a topic of conversation.

"Did you see her in gym today? She practically threw herself over all the boys." The one said, exaggerating to emphasize the bigger words of her sentence.

The other girl tutted; "I know, she was so showing off when she did that running."

The bitching continued, I drummed my fingers on the table to keep myself distracted, and as soon as the bell went I was out of the room like a shot.

Gary was already waiting for me to make my getaway; I chucked my helmet on and hurdled onto the back of his scooter, clinging onto his waist as he pulled away. I immediately gave away that something was not right by my lack of enthusiasm for the ride, usually I was laughing the whole way of our journey, but instead I left my padded head rested on Gary's back, and let my mind wander.

"What's wrong?" Gary sighed as I pushed the house door open. He was clearly getting annoyed by my constant pessimism, how could i be cheerful with a great big Paul cloud raining on me? What was worse, the raindrops were the bitches talking about me, poking me with they're wet, rainy glares.

"Nothing." I kicked off my shoes and headed for our living room.

"Did you see Paul again?"

I threw myself face first into the sofa; "No." The muffled sound rumbled through the fabric of the seat.

I heard him laugh; "Is that what's wrong?"

"No!" I shouted, kicking my leg in his general direction. I heard him titter as he left the room to make drinks. I was certainly going to be distracted in my sleep tonight.

* * *

Hahaa, so I hope that's improving for you. ^^


	8. Victorie : Computer Crash

Computer Crash

Victorie

_Beep. Beep._

I moaned and hit my alarm clock. I was so groggy I couldn't remember why I set it so it would wake me up early. I rolled out of bed, hitting the floor with a soft thump. The impact woke me up and reminded me why I was awake. I had plans for this morning.

I quickly got ready to go to school, even though it was super early. I had my breakfast, I got changed, packed my bag, and made sure all my homework was done. One all of that was finished, I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer.

As soon as the screen lit up and I had internet connection, I opened a browser and typed in the address to the website that I was planning on visiting: . It was a chat site, one where you had to register before you could start chatting. You could talk to people around the world, customize your display name, change your personal message, and of course a little icon called a display picture.

As soon as I logged on with my e-mail account, a conversation bubble popped up on screen. I smiled automatically. I knew exactly who was contacting me, and I was totally happy about it. After all, I hadn't talked to the person for _ages_. Or at least, it felt like ages.

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **Took you long enough, Tori.

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **Morty! (:

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **You remember my name!

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **No duh you moron. (/glomps)

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **Woah, someone's excited to see me.

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **Don't flatter yourself. =P

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **Spoil my fun why don't you?

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **Of course. How are you?

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **Tired. One of the new gym hands let loose all of our Gastly in the Burnt Tower accidentally, while transporting them. We had to find all of the tricksters and return them to their pokeballs. Toughest bit was determining which ones were ours and which ones were wild.

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **No waii. That's crazy! You should go to bed. I know I would after something like that happened.

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **Can't, gym is open for one more hour. Plus, I haven't talked in a while. (:

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says;** Haha, sucks for you. Take a break once in a while, will ya? And awwh, I love you3

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **I know, haha, it does suck. I love you too, lil' sis. How's school?

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **I'm not that little, only a couple years younger than you! As for school… eh, it's alright. I'd definitely rather be training my pokemon with you or hunting for legends with you and Eusine. You guys find anything yet?

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **No, not yet. Eusine is still desperate to find that Suicune we had an encounter with. Kinda sorta.

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **If you do find it, send me pictures. Oh! Before I forget again, thank you so much for sending me the Sableye! It's a real sweetie.

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **No problem, I'm glad you like him. Next time I'll send you a Shuppet, or a Shedninja. (:

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **Save it for my birthday… though you really don't have to, haha.

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **O-okay, I will. Speaking of which, your birthday is coming up soon isn't it?

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **Define soon. Mine's in like, a month and a half or something. I don't know what day it is today. [/fail] Ohmigosh! I know! For my birthday present, you should come and visit me! Take a break from the gym and stay with me and my dad for a couple days! We have more than enough rooms to compensate for you. Pleeeeaaaaseee?

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **Haha, you really want me to?

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **Hell yes!

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **Alright, I'll see what I can do.

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **Seriously?

**Rhythmic Mishap - - Morty says; **Sure. You're my best friend after all. Just don't tell Eusine that… (:

**Beautiful Disaster [[ Victorie ]] says; **Omigosh I-

_User has just signed off.  
_

I stared at my computer screen blankly. What is it talking about? I didn't sign off. I looked more closely and much to my surprise the computer screen went completely black. I panicked and quickly turned the screen to find the reboot button, but it wouldn't work. I cried out in dismay.

"_Dad!!"_

**--~*~--**

I was pleasantly surprised on my way to school. Turns out that the Petalburg Woods had a phone signal, so I was able to call Morty and apologize for logging off without warning, even though I didn't want to, but that's besides the point.

I'll admit, I actually preferred calling him. It was great, hearing his voice again, It would be better if I had a face to the voice. Maybe I'll go to the Pokemon Centre later and ask the Nurse Joy there to let me use the phone machine, that way I can talk to him face to face in a way.

Maybe next time I can convince him to bring Eusine too. That would be awesome, I'd better ask.

"Hello?" That familiar voice made me smile. "Hey Morty! Sorry about the chat earlier, my computer crashed." I heard a laugh on the other end. "I figured as much, I know you, you wouldn't leave without saying bye." I giggled. It was true, he did know me well, that fool. "So is this your new number?"

"That it is. You'd better memorize it!" I replied playfully. "Mr. Stone, dad's partner, gave the new phone to me as a welcoming gift. It's my favorite color too." I heard a chuckle on the other line. "Black?" I laughed. "Yeah." I bet he was smiling. "Doesn't surprise me." We both laughed again.

I continued chatting with Morty until I reached the school, upon which I sighed. "Morty, I'm gonna have to talk to you later, I'm at the school." I figure that if Morty were here, he would be giving me a warm and understanding smile. 'Course the moron had to live halfway across the world.

"That's fine, I'll talk to you later, 'kay?" I nodded, though he couldn't see. "Yeah; wish me luck!" I laughed in spite of myself. "Ah well. I love you and I'll talk to you later!" Another chuckle. "Same goes to for you. Bye!"

The call ended. I slid my PokeNav shut and put it in my messenger bag before starting towards the school entrance. Before I took two steps I was greeted by Luna. I smiled at her and the two of us went inside the school before we were late for class.

--~*~--

Ugh. I can't believe Drew was mentioned over lunch break. I mean, who did he think he was?! Bastard. No way in hell was I gonna talk to him again. Stupid coordinator. What did he think he was doing, trying to outsmart a competitive battler in her own field of pokemon even! Grr, I could probably come up with fifty rude and insulting nicknames for that jerk-

"Hey Victorie." Speak of the Devil and he appears. I said nothing to him. He sighed. "Really? A silent treatment? I thought you were better than that." I scoffed. "Well you thought wrong. Obviously I have nothing to say to you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to go to-"

He cut me off. So annoying. "Class doesn't start for another fifteen minutes." I glared and hissed back; "I have to get there early and let the teacher know that I switched into their class. A _battle_ class, where we learn _battle_ techniques. Something a _coordinator _wouldn't understand." He tutted. "Now you're starting to sound like Luna. And we coordinators do understand, we battle too you know."

"Does it look like I care?" I frowned. "I hope you're not trying to insult my friend. No? Good. I'm outta here." He opened his mouth to reply, but I left without a word. I was through.

--~*~--

I decided after school that I didn't want to get my dad a laptop. Instead, I wanted to earn a laptop and work for it. So, I chose to go visit Mr. Stone and see if he could help me, since my dad wouldn't be home 'till later that night, and I was a bit impatient.

"A part time job?" Mr. Stone asked, a bit puzzled. I nodded. "Yes sir. I was hoping that you could possibly recommend somewhere nice to work, since you know Rustboro inside and out. I want to earn money for a laptop, since mine crashed this morning, rather than letting dad buy it for me." I explained.

To my surprise, Mr. Stone's face brightened. "I know the perfect place!" I smiled and waited eagerly for him to finish his sentence. "You should work here!" he declared, earning a blank stare from me. "It would be great to have you around! A youthful presence to encourage our workers!"

I swear, if this were a manga, Mr. Stone would have tears of joy streaming down his face and sparkly bubbles surrounding him.

"Uhmm… I don't know Mr. Stone. Are you sure you want to pay the daughter of your business partner?" He grinned broadly. "It wouldn't be a problem. What do you say, Victorie? Organize papers, run a few errands for our researchers, and occasionally work in the lobby and help visitors. We'll give you a good amount of money per week, you can pick your hours, and we can easily make arrangements if you have big tests or projects, or anything that is important, coming up."

I thought about it. The offer was very tempting. I could work for an hour and a half or two hours on weekdays, not including Fridays, have weekends off, and Mr. Stone would understand if I couldn't make it on certain days. Definitely the best offer I was gonna get. I looked up and smiled.

"Alright Mr. Stone, you got yourself a deal."

--~*~--

"You're doing _what_ after school?" Dad asked, surprised. "I'm working for a couple hours at the Devon HQ after school," I explained for the second time. "I want to save up for a new laptop, since mine crashed this morning, as you know. As much as I love sending and receiving letters, I also want to be able to chat with Morty and Eusine quickly sometimes, you know, through the chatroom or e-mail. Especially since I can't always call them."

My father nodded in understanding. "Why not just let me buy you a new laptop?" He was still confused. "Well daddy, one day I'm going to need to earn my own money for my own things, so, I might as well get started now. Plus, I've got nothing to do in the afternoons besides homework anyways. My plan is to work for an hour and a half or two hours, come home, do my homework, eat dinner, and then have some free time. And Mr. Stone said he would be more than happy to let me have days off if I have big projects due, tests, or important things coming up. It's a really good deal, I think."

I finished with a smile. My dad stared at me blankly before bursting out in laughter. This time it was my turn to stare blankly. "You are so much like your mother, Tori. I can picture it. If she were here, she would be pumping her first in the air and wearing a mask of determination on her face, supporting you one hundred percent."

I smiled. He sighed deeply and leaned back against the sofa. "If only she were here… but I'm going off-topic. Go ahead, work your heart out. If you need any help, let me, Mr. Stone, or Steven know, huh?" I nodded, plopping down beside him and resting my head on his shoulder.

"I wish she were here too dad, you're not alone. She's right here though." I poked him where his heart would be. He smiled. "And now the daughter preaches the father." I laughed. "Sure. Anyway, I'll go make some dinner using my superb cooking skills." My dad raised a brow playfully. "The superb skills that burnt my Alakazam's spoon?" I laughed nervously. "It was not your Alakazam's spoon! It was a regular kitchen spoon!"

I hesitated before adding as an afterthought; "Plus, you have no proof!" I marched towards the kitchen with my dad's laughter echoing in my ears.

* * *

**School is really annoying. ;-;**

**Enjoy mon cheries~ (:  
**


	9. Luna : Prince Charming

_This update is soo short D: well it would probably be longer if I wasn't harassed for like two days to do it!! *glares* meh, the next chapter will probably be up in 30 seconds knowing meh big sis xD Anywhoo, here's the chap so err, enjoy the two minute's worth of reading x] lol_

_**P**__rince __**C**__harming_

_L u n a - ×_

Well today, started better then expected for a second day. Usually I'd be unable to wake up which I tend to be like every single day after the first, but I actually had actually restrained myself from breaking the alarm clock and instead could get up without much of a bother. I have a feeling it's the time change, it's an hour or so ahead here, meaning that I'll soon be back to my regular 'I can't be bothered to get up' attitude soon enough. The only excuse I had for not wanting to go to school was the amount of co-ordinators compared to my last one, but I'll just have to put up with that.

Kayla had worn herself out and I swear she could sleep through a thunderstorm now. I sneaked into her bedroom to steal one of my hair bobbins back and I had managed to trip over her school bag, which was slung in the middle of the floor, knock the bed in the process of falling, and dropped one of her books accidentally off the desk by moving it. So now I had a lovely bruise on my knee from falling, my foot was sore since the book had landed on it, and by wrist stung by bending the wrong way slightly. Was it worth it to get a simple hair bobbin? Probably not, but I could say mission complete.

Nothing else that I could class as a special moment in my life happened, other then my parents eying me suspiciously as if I had just committed some sort of crime. Well I suppose stealing the stolen from the little angle child probably would, although in my opinion it was taking possession of something that was rightfully mine before the demon in disguise took it. Everything passed as normal after that; Dad dropped me off at school and went for a little gossip in the teachers lounge. I walked a little more slowly behind and noticed Victorie. She shot me a smile that I returned and we walked into the school to whichever class we both had. Honestly, I forgot, I wasn't even one hundred percent sure where my timetable was. Great, second day and I had already lost it, must be a new record.

**.::^-^::.**

Nothing odd passed in my lessons. I spent a good while glaring at the green locks at the back of Drew's head. Maybe I could burn them off with Vulpix, but decided against that. Who knows whom he could possibly be related to, and I promised dad I would try and stay out of trouble. So I settled with glaring and I swear he must have felt it since he seemed rather uncomfortable for the entire time. I wonder why he had green hair, such a stupid colour. Maybe he dyed it with some cheap blonde dye and fell into chlorine water or something. That did happen to my friend in Sinnoh, and everything being of less value here certainly did not go unnoticed here by me.

I was disgusted to find so many girls seeming attracted to him. I mean, what's so good-looking about someone who purely _looks_ green obsessed. He was just pretty, and for me, fine works so much more. There's a lovely thick line that separates my type of guy, from a Drew. Yes, he is known as _a_ Drew, now an inanimate person, almost like a clone. A gone wrong clone of one of those prince charming's from fairytales, with the blonde hair. Maybe he wanted to do the resemblance and then did the blonde dye, and stupidly went – or fell – into a swimming pool. I could almost see it, like a filmstrip flickering before me. Unfortunately the hilarious scene was discarded when I lost my concentration, which happened because at that exact moment in time the teacher called on me.

"Answer the question, Luna." the teacher ordered. Funnily enough, it was a question on a _grass_ Pokémon, meaning it was _green_. I scowled under my breath and the teacher knew that I had no clue what the answer was. I caught the pleased smirk and delighted gleam in Drew's eyes when he turned around to look at me. "Pay attention please." the teacher sighed, "Drew."

He turned back around and answered the question with an insulting drawl to his voice. My hand twitched with temptation near my Vulpix's Pokéball, reconsidering my earlier idea. It wouldn't have been much of a surprise if I did but the bell just happened to go just then, signalling it was time for the next class. I sighed and pulled out the timetable which I had had to get when I realised my other couldn't be found. The receptionist wasn't impressed, but gave it to me anyway. I just shrugged it off and now I managed to navigate my way around to the next class, which thankfully, was minus prince charming.

**.::^-^::.**

Lunch was, well interesting. Apparently Victorie doesn't like prince charming either, and had now wandered off somewhere. After she left I continued to glare at meadow head until he began meandering his way through the crowds. Only then did I realise I hadn't paid attention to a single word that had been said since Tori disappeared.

"Luna?" Gary and Grace said in unison. I blinked and looked between the two of them. They were both standing. "Lunch is over" Grace stated.

I felt a red tinge spread across my face when Gary smirked. "Oh, err- yeah." I stammered pulling myself to a stand and discarding whatever lunch I had left in the bin. They both had Pokémon research now whilst I had history, so we parted there. Prince Charming didn't seem to be in this class, but his friend was, the one Grace liked. I couldn't help but giggle when I saw him but soon silenced myself when he shot me a glare. What was his problem; I could have been laughing about anything. Maybe he doesn't like laughing because it too much illustrates a 'happy emotion'. Seriously, this guy doesn't even look like he'd manage to crack a _smirk_, never mind smile.

I shrugged it off and entered the classroom since the teacher finally decided to appear and open the door. This was my first history class and we don't get the privilege of sitting where we please. The person who was supposed to sit next to me currently wasn't in the classroom. It didn't bother me though, so I just, as usual, tuned out of the lesson since it was another subject that didn't interest me. I hate school; it's just hell with fluorescent lighting.

**.::^-^::.**

Nothing else of interest passed that day until I had to go home. Dad had to stay at school for a little while for some meeting, and he said either I wait or I walk home. I chose the latter, and soon found myself lost because of my terrible navigation skills. I had actually somehow or another ended up in Petalburg Woods. I huffed angrily, realising I'll probably get bitten by some form of insect. Bites are so annoying; they're really itchy and come out as a big red mark. And if you do scratch them it's as if you have a tomato stuck to your skin. If you got one on your nose it could almost pass as a fake red clown nose.

I kicked up a stone and shrieked when a Wrumple crawled out. Now normally insects don't bother me this much but being surrounded by them really freaked me out. My eyes shifted across the ground warily, and before I knew it I crashed into someone. I fell against the floor with a soft thud although I didn't here the other person fall, maybe just lose his balance.

"Oops, sorry." the person said.

I snapped my eyes open in recognition of the voice and looked up. He instantly recognised me too and any sort of apologetic gesture he was about to use was instantly abandoned. "Oh, it's you." he sneered.

Please, of course it's me; he doesn't need to state the obvious. I'm well aware I'm here, currently lost is a forest. "Whatever." I growled, standing up now and brushing the dirt off me.

"And may I ask what you're doing in the woods when you're clearly afraid of all the insects?" he said.

"I could be asking you the same question." I spat, "And I am _not_ afraid of insects!"

Just then a Masquerain flew out of nowhere and I let out such a shrill screech Drew had to cover his ears. The irritating knowing smirk _plastered_ across his face never faltered though. "Really now?" he chuckled as the Masquerain settled itself on his shoulder.

I glared at the two of them. "Yes." I snapped, although I could feel my face heating up. Amusement twinkled in his eyes. I flexed my hand by my side, venting anger another way.

He shrugged, allowing the subject to drop. "So you never answered my first question." he stated, then added with an even broader and more annoying smirk, "I take it you're lost."

"I am not lost!" I shrieked, making the Masquerain flutter uneasily.

He hushed it quickly. "Then which was is back to Rustboro City?" he asked.

I quickly tried to come up with some retort, but drew a complete blank. "Err- that way?" I guessed, pointing vaguely to my left. It most have been well off because he instantly burst into hysterics. I swear it couldn't have been that bad! I scowled at him, waiting for him to calm down slightly.

"Well if you're so great why don't you lead the way out of here." I snapped angrily.

He stifled his laughter, releasing it in slight chuckles and arched an eyebrow. "And I would do that because…?"

I blew up at my fringe impatiently. "To prove you're not lost either." I said.

He snickered at that comment, earning a frown from me. "I don't need to prove anything to you."

"Ha, you so are lost!" I shouted, clasping my hands together and laughing. He glared at me but I just continued in my mocking laugh, waiting for him to either admit he's lost or lead me out of here.

"Fine." he grunted, pulling out a Pokéball and returned the Masquerain which was apparently his. He then began waking in the opposite direction I had pointed. I grinned triumphantly as I trailed behind him. Several minutes passed of navigating what seemed to me aimlessly through the trees until we finally emerged into proper sunlight. "There, happy?"

"Oh my hero." I drawled sarcastically. "I never asked you to show me the way out, I just asked you to prove it to me." I continued.

I smirked when he glared at me and was about to open his mouth to retort but closed it when I disappeared once more. The house wasn't very difficult to find now for some reason, and dad's car was parked in the drive. Dad was already cooking dinner when I went inside and he grinned cheerfully. I smiled back and went to my room to discard the bag I had been lugging around half the day. It was beginning to hurt my back now.

Before I took two steps towards the door again Kayla came barging into my bedroom and tackled me. "Luna! I missed you!" she chirped, taking a tight grip around my waist.

I couldn't help but giggle and I ruffled some of the lovely blonde strands of her hair. She had her cute moments I guess. "Well I'm here now." I announced obviously. I then sniffed the air as a waft of dinner made it's way down the hall into my bedroom. "I'm hungry, let's see what dad's cooking." Kayla giggled and detached herself from me before skipping down the hall. I grinned and followed after her as she shouted, "Dad, hurry up! I'm hungry!"

When I entered the kitchen dad looked over at me. "Yes, the vacuum cleaner is home now." he sighed, seemingly disappointed although there was a humorous gleam in his eyes.

**

* * *

**


	10. Grace : Definition of Friendship

**Now it's going to get interesting. ;D**

Definition of Friendship

Grace.

I invested in an alarm clock so I wouldn't be late again, which I wasn't today. The only problem was that I wasn't used to the stupidly loud ring that deafened me into alertness.

It made me sleepier; I defiantly wasn't using _that _again.

I was early enough to walk to school; I like the exercise, and so does Kirlia. Vaporeon prefers to swim, for obvious reasons.

"I think you should take Lapras to the beach with us, Friday." Gary grinned; "It'll enjoy the sea breeze, and we can go for a ride."

I didn't like that last part; "My Pokémon is not a form of transport for your convenience, Gary." I spat his name, maybe it was just my grogginess. Maybe I was just a little protective, who knew?

I had one thing to be cheerful about; I had my first lesson of Pokémon care today. It was making getting up worth it, I just preyed it would be as good as I expect. I'm surprised to hear that quite a few people took it.

I didn't have gym today either, so I guess I could lighten my mood a little more than this sourness of a horrible awakening.

Kirlia could feel I was annoyed, and tugged on my hand. She smiled at me and I forced one back; stupid of me to try and fool an emotion Pokémon, but she didn't look too bothered.

"I'm not saying that…" Gary groaned, clearly a little offended by my snap. I hung my head a little; "I know, sorry." I muttered.

He grinned again, nudging my side sharply with his elbow; "Nah, don't worry little sis'."

"I'm not your little sister!" I shouted as he dodged my sharper elbow then began running. "Kirlia! Take him down!"

It beamed and closed its eyes as it nodded, once they opened, a beautiful enchanting green light glazed over her innocent pupils. The grass that would soon be in Gary's path was in the perfect place for him to run into, it knotted and wrapped around his shoe to trip him. Just before he landed on the floor, Kirlia's eyes glazed into a pink glassy looking light. An aura of the same colour wrapped around my brother's entire body to keep him from moving as we advanced on him.

I clutched onto his collar with both of my hands and brought my face inches to his as I growled lowly; "Take it back."

He refused, he knew how saying I was the younger sister – Which I am not – annoyed me. I shook him roughly and growled even more deadly than before, even I didn't know I could sound so mean; "Take it back." I spat through gritted teeth. Why was such a little thing getting to me so much? I could only put it down to all the annoyances that have built up on me for the past few days…

"Fine! Let me go, we have to get to school. Preferably in one neat piece please."

I shoved him and allowed Kirlia to stand him up again; she did so and ran to my side again, sliding her tiny hand into mine.

"What's wrong with you?" He muttered as he caught up with me. I mumbled something unintelligible. He left me alone during register; he has enough female attention to do so.

You could physically see me brightening up as I got closer to my first class, I was far too excited. I was the earliest, so I took a seat in the middle of the room; not to close to the front, and not too far so I couldn't hear. The teacher smiled at me, she seemed very nice; perfect for this lesson.

"Hello dear." She already gave me a name, which could only mean that she was a very loving person. I nodded politely; "Good morning, Ma'am."

"What's the name?"

"Grace," I paused a split second; "Ma'am." I added on the end, so I didn't look silly holding my breath for that brief moment. She nodded and scanned for my name on her register, then grinned at me; "If your grandfather's genetics got to you, I'm pretty sure you'll be fine in this lesson, Grace."

Oh yes, my mood was sky rocketing so fast that Deoxys in speed form couldn't keep up. My face would have lit up the room if my brightness wasn't a metaphor.

The room filled pretty quickly from there, and people were already paired with people they knew. Seeing as I didn't know many, I sat alone. I didn't mind, it meant I had full attention to this kind teacher.

"Right class, I'm Miss Hollicome, and I am your Pokémon care teacher. I thought I should explain what we will be covering in this class so you know that this is the lesson for you."

She glanced at me briefly; I wanted to be in here with this teacher even if I wanted to be a diver.

"Pokémon care is not only about keeping a Pokémon healthy, but how to groom, clean and praise your Pokémon to give them the confidence they need to perform in many tasks to help you with careers such as researching, nursing and breeding."

I placed my head into my hands and listened to her intently, not only was she kind, she was interesting to listen to too. I was very excited to follow her lead.

"We'll be covering a wide range of topics such as the different Pokémon Type treatments and Pokémon food. You will learn a variety-"

She was interrupted suddenly by a knock on the door, I didn't look over and instead I looked at my notebook and wrote my name on the front.

"Sorry I'm late Miss, I had to sort out a few problems at the office." A voice practically sang in a beautiful low alto range. Of course the face had to match; it was that beautiful boy that Tori warned me about, Darren? David? I knew is started with a 'D'…

It didn't matter, he sat by me anyway. I glanced at his book quickly. Drew, that's it.

He waited patiently for the teacher to finish her talking and set down some sheets for us to fill in. He turned his head to me and smiled, wow, what a smile!

"Did I miss much?"

I must have looked like a Buneary caught in headlights, I was bewildered; what do you say to someone who is blatantly too beautiful to talk to you!? My jaw was slightly ajar, and I shook my head nervously then shifted my gaze towards the work before I embarrassed myself.

He craned his neck over me; "Grace…" He thought a moment, I looked at him stupidly, I caught how beautiful the shade of his green eyes were; not a colour I could describe perfectly, a gentle brightness of lime mixed with the purity of clean grass…

"That's a lovely name." He complimented me. Me! How did I deserve something from him? I cursed myself mentally for thinking of myself being so low; he was a boy of my age trying to make friends. Stop being so stupid.

I forced a smile to creep my lips tighter, and I blinked appreciatively.

"Not much of a talker, are you?"

I laughed quietly and glanced away from him; "Sorry, thank you."

"I'm Drew."

Of course I already knew that, I nodded back, I was scared to talk, I would end up complimenting him a little too much, and that would be weird.

He sighed a little and began writing, I did too.

"You're left handed?" He asked, I looked at my left hand, it was clutching the pen; "It seems that way, doesn't it?" I giggled in playful sarcasm.

"Ah, so you do talk." He almost seemed impressed, how embarrassing. He looked like he was making extreme effort to talk to me, I wasn't exactly helping. I focussed, I could make conversation.

"What did you choose this subject for?" I asked politely, it seemed that Pokémon Care would permanently be stuck in my brain; I might as well use it as a topic while it's still fresh.

He hesitated, but eventually he lowered his voice; "Coordinating."

"Wow, I never thought Pokémon Care could be used for that." Oh no, I was rambling; "but I guess it's perfect for knowing how to help your Pokémon feel and perform well." I forced myself to stop, pursing my lips slightly as I looked to him; he seemed to be impressed again.

"You're the first person here who's accepted I'm a coordinator."

I blinked, he looked completely touched. It was upsetting to see him this way, and I didn't even know him enough to say he was my friend yet.

"Your friends aren't very nice then." I knew very well who his closest friend was. I felt my chest tighten at the thought, fear I assume.

He smirked; "Yeah, I guess so, wouldn't change them for the world though…"

Why had Tori warned me of him? He was so nice! He even took crap off Paul and still saw the good (if any) inside of him, giving him a chance at friendship.

Drew seemed to have thought about Paul too after I briefly mentioned him; "You know Paul, don't you?"

I nodded, back to my silence again; I didn't want to ruin our blooming friendship for ranting about his best friend's nature.

"He sat by you and your brother right?"

I raised an eyebrow; "You know quite a bit about me already."

"Everyone knows about the Oak twins." He grinned, and then began writing again. He didn't see my grimace, had that name really travelled around the school? We were only siblings who happened to have shared our mother's womb.

To save myself the embarrassment of rebelling from this name during this wonderful class, I began writing too.

He got back to my topic; "What do you want to do then?"

"I'd like to be a nurse."

He smiled again, it was totally breathtaking; how could he do that? "You look like a carer."

I smiled back at him quickly and then focussed on my work for a solid amount of time. That wasn't the kind of distraction I thought I would have to avoid, but at least I gained a friend out of it. Our lesson finished and we walked towards our next lesson together. Turns out we had Geography together too, Wednesdays were going to be good for me; I knew it.

Naturally, we sat together, we'd engaged into full blown conversation by the time Pokémon Care was over and hadn't stopped until our Geography teacher wearily entered out class.

"Good morning Class!"

"Good morning Sir." We all droned in reply, this room must have a dreary atmosphere that we were all feeling.

"Let's start with the obvious, shall we? Home." The teacher began slamming a book on each desk, we both peered at it and I was the only one to groan. Hoenn is not home.

Drew frowned at me; "You're not from around here?" He must be as terrible at picking up accents as I am. I shook my head anyway; "Kanto, obviously not _everybody _knows about the Oak twins." Oh no, did I just wink!?

I don't remember the lesson; Drew let me copy him in return that he copied me when Kanto became the topic.

We stayed together over break time too; at this rate we'll look joined at the hip. Neither of us were hungry, so we sat on the field under a tree's shade from the bright sun. It was only just reaching autumn, - My favourite of seasons – so summer still had its influences on the weather. My brother and I decided to take advantage of this and go to the beach for the weekend.

On the topic, I decided I may as well add some more company, if my two girl friends didn't like it then they didn't have to talk, right?

"I'm going to the beach at the weekend with a few friends-"

"Paul said, he seems excited in his own way."

Of course he'd be excited; he gets to battle my brother. It still felt strange, I didn't know excitement was in his small range of emotion.

I tried to block that problem out of the equation; "Would you like to come too? I mean… There's room for another in our tent."

Ahh yes, our tent. I refused to have anything smaller than a four-man tent if I were going to go camping with my brother, so Grandpappy went the extra mile and brought us one with two bedrooms big enough for three people in each. It also had a little room in the middle to sit in. I was more than happy to camp on the beach if that's what we were sleeping in.

"That sounds like fun." He smiled, but it faltered; "your friends don't seem to like me." He looked over my shoulder quickly and back to my face; I looked over and automatically waved at Gary, Tori and Luna. Gary waved back, but the other two didn't respond. I couldn't see that far, but they didn't look impressed.

I turned back to him; "Your friend doesn't like me, but he's still coming."

Drew chuckled; "He doesn't dislike you. He's spoke about you once, which means a lot. If you mean nothing to him, he speaks nothing of you."

He has a funny way of showing it.

"I wasn't the nicest to your friends either." He mumbled. So this is why Victorie warned me of him.

I grinned; "We can fix that, they're very nice." I dug my elbow into his arm gently; "You can be nice when you want to be."

He stayed silent for a while, keeping his face in a pleasant smile. He suddenly sighed and leant back on one hand; "You're the nicest person I've met here."

"So I've been told." I laughed, he did too. If I were the nicest person here, why did Paul still feel the need to make me feel tiny? It didn't make much sense.

"Where is Paul?" I suddenly blurted, he seemed quite startled by my outburst, he'd have to get used to it if we're going to be friends.

He shrugged carelessly; "Probably in the cafeteria, he'll be annoyed I didn't meet him."

"You should go!" I raised my voice an octave higher; "don't make him mad for me, go!"

He waved me off carelessly; "He'll get over it. Standing up to him is the best way to get his respect anyway."

Great, something I'm useless at. One of his cold glares and I melt into Ditto goo. He obviously saw my grimace; "I wouldn't bother about it too much. He is who he is."

Exactly, why am I letting it get to me? I needed a topic change quickly; "So what do you have next period?"

"Physics, we're not together for this lesson." He sounded quite disappointed; it was nice to be thought of so highly when I thought just as highly of him.

"I have Biology." I sighed, but suddenly perked up because I was with Tori.

He flicked his hair; that madly coloured hair, I wasn't sure what to make of it, but the style was very suiting; very Prince-like. It framed his perfection of a face beautifully.

"Err… Earth to Grace?"

Oh no, I must be gazing. I blinked quickly and laughed; "Sorry, I spaced out." He's got to have known I was staring intently at his face, my cheeks were turning scarlet! I cringed mentally, and it crossed my face too.

"That's okay, I get it a lot." He chuckled; I wasn't sure what to make of that. I just stayed quiet, desperately trying to cool my heated cheeks.

I guess that was his flaw, he was too beautiful for his own good, he'd never been treated like an average looking person and so didn't know how to act like us, there was no modesty in his voice at all. As innocent as he was, he must have said something to Victorie that she did not like.

He stood up and held out a hand; "I'll see you at lunch?"

Of course that would catch me off guard, I stumbled into him like the klutz I am, and he had to catch me and dig his feet into the grass to keep us standing upright. I tensed in case we did fall, and stayed completely still so I didn't make things worse.

He chuckled; "Not as graceful as your mother hoped, right?"

Ouch, I couldn't stop the tears stinging in my eyes. He could immediately see that was a sensitive subject, but I was snatched away before he could apologize. I forced a genuine smile as best possible at him, before allowing Tori to pull me towards the Science block.

"What did he say to you?" She hissed, not taking her eyes off the path we were taking. Her hand was clutched around my wrist so tightly I could feel my fingertips numbing.

"Nothing." I insisted, he really hadn't said anything out of line. I'm just far too sensitive for my own good. Of course motherhood is a frequent topic, we all have a mother, and it's going to be brought up.

She tutted; "Somehow I don't believe you, don't worry about it. He's a jerk."

"No he's not." I muttered, but she ignored me.

The lesson was a bit of a blur, Tori wasn't much conversation. She continued to mumble a rant about Drew. I picked up that he had told her she was a bad trainer, but I doubted that. Maybe he had said something about him being better? That sounded more likely…

"Do you like him, Grace?" She muttered when the teacher wasn't looking.

I smiled; "Of course I do, he's been very nice to me."

"Yes but do you _like _ him?" Emphasized the word and my eyes widened.

"He's very…" I was careful to find the right word without upsetting Tori; "Handsome, but he's a little too feminine for me."

She nodded; "Whatever."

She didn't believe me, my jaw opened slightly in shock.

"I don't." I insisted; "My attention lies elsewhere." I tried my best to make her believe I didn't _like _like Drew.

"Really?" Her voice rose a little too high, she couldn't ask any more questions because the teacher's glare was frightening.

Half way through the lesson, a teacher walked in. Today was full of interruptions that I didn't need. I guess my high mood has just been popped. "Could I see Grace, please?"

Why me? I recognised the voice though, it wasn't a teacher; it was Grandpappy. I suddenly panicked, was Gary okay? What had happened!? My eyes widened more and more the closer I got to the door.

"Pappy? What's wrong?" I closed the door behind me.

He sighed; "Gary called, he was worried about you."

"Why?" He did not know, unless we really are psychic. Nahh, we can't be can we?

"You're friend told him you'd left crying, _he_ wasn't sure what he'd done so asked your brother." He frowned, and waved his hand towards the corridor as a suggestion to walk.

I smiled feebly; "I'm fine, he brought up my mother. He didn't know." Grandpappy nodded in understanding; "You're doing a wonderful job staying strong Grace, you'll be fine. It's nice to know you have such caring friends already."

It's nice for me too; I didn't say that though, he was already wary when he said my friend was a 'he.' I simply nodded instead.

"You didn't have to come all the way down here…" I mumbled, feeling a little guilty that I'd made Grandpappy worry about me so.

He lifted my face so my eye line would reach his, he examined me and sighed; "It seems like I did, come on." He took my hand and followed the signs for the office.

"Where are we going?" I asked, I didn't have my stuff or anything…

He sighed again; "Home, you look tired, and Gary said you haven't been sleeping well since you got here."

"But I have battles with Gary! We need to practice out Vaporeon-Umbreon technique!" I tried to squirm out of his hand, but it tightened as he chuckled; "You can lend Vaporeon to him if it means that much to you." His face went serious; "I'm worried about you, Grace."

"Grandpappy…" I groaned, but we had reached the desk. He began muttering to the receptionist, who instantly recognised him and didn't even look at me. Obviously Hoenn trusts the great Professor Oak too.

"Is Gary going home too?" She asked quietly, and I watched Grandpappy shake his head. She nodded and handed me a slip to give to my teacher.

=*=*=

I'd been moving too much to sleep, so I busied myself with cleaning the house and cooking a meal from scratch. Grandpappy was too busy in his laboratory to know I wasn't asleep.

I heard the door slam, Gary style and he ran upstairs hurriedly. After he realised I wasn't in my room, he jumped back downstairs again.

He followed the smell of the food and found me stirring a mixture of different ingredients for pastry. He smiled at me then turned back towards the front door; "She's in here!"

Who's that? Grandpappy shouldn't be back yet. I put my bowl down and pulled my apron off so I looked presentable, Drew came around the corner swiftly and tackled me into a hug. I froze for a moment then put my arms around him too, what brought that on?

"I'm so sorry! I didn't realise! I should have been more sensitive!" He began mumbling, all I could see was Gary's eyebrows rising at us. I squirmed from Drew's clutches immediately; "It's fine! You didn't know!"

He scanned my face for any signs of doubt in my eyes, I had to fight to hold a blush down. I get very flustered when center of attention, but I knew Gary would take it the wrong way.

"Well as long as you're okay…" He worried, I waved a hand in front of his face. "Don't worry about it, I should be so touchy."

I saw Gary roll his eyes, and I was quick to change topic; "Gary has a TV upstairs, you should go play his games while I make dinner. Are you staying?"

He looked over to Gary, who shrugged; "I can't, I have plans with my family tonight." He said carefully to me, he was clearly avoiding any word related to parenting for me. I nodded and he thanked me, I waved him off and picked up my apron again. I was glad I'd taken it off before that greeting, I would have ruined his uniform.

He left for home, and I grimaced when Gary didn't follow. I turned to the food to prepare it so he could see my face.

"He's certainly taken a shine to you."

"Shut up, Gary, he was just concerned."

I just knew he would be staring at me sceptically, I didn't bother to look over at him.

"He's known you for a day." He stated, and I nodded; "Yes and he's a very kind person, we're good friends already."

"He's got more than friendship on his mind." He chuckled, and I shot a glare at him; "Gareth Anthony-James Oak get out of this Kitchen right now!" I shrieked, and he skulked out of the room with a huge grin on his face.


	11. Victorie : Battles and Badges

Battles and Badges

Victorie

So it all started this morning, when I walked downstairs for breakfast. My father was reading his paper and drinking some coffee, since he didn't have to go to work super early. I padded over towards the kitchen where I popped some bread into the toaster before going to the fridge so I could get something to drink. It was during that time that my father put aside his paper and watched me for a moment before deciding to speak.

"Victorie, I had a chat with Mr. Stone yesterday evening, when you were most likely asleep." I paused and looked up from what I was doing. I had a feeling this wasn't going to turn out well. "Since today is your first day working, Mr. Stone and I figured that you could use someone to show you around and give you a bit of a helping hand if you need it. So, we figured that his grandson could help you. You know Drew, right?"

I was right. It _didn't_ turn out too well. I nodded my head slowly, unsure of what to say. I didn't want to disappoint my dad, but I really didn't want to be with Drew in the afternoon either. I still wasn't happy with him. My dad smiled in response to my nod before continuing to speak.

"That's great. Drew said he would be happy to show you around. He's a nice kid, I hope you get along with him. Most likely you'll be seeing him quite a bit." My father finished with a smile. Then he quickly turned his head towards the clock that was ticking on the wall. "Well, it looks like it's about time for me to go to work. I'll see you tonight, Tori."

It was all over in a blink of an eye. He was gone and I had fifteen minutes before I needed to begin my trek to school. I put some jam on my now toasted bread and frowned. Seeing Drew quite a bit? What a nightmare. Who wants to hang out with a stuck up jerk like him? Not me, that's for sure.

I sighed before taking a bite of my toast. Taking a quick peek at the time, I decided that I'd best be going. Getting to school early never hurt; maybe the battle instructor would be willing to have a battle with me. If not him, one of the older students. They always wanted to battle.

--~*~--

"Croconaw, Ice Fang!" A medium sized blue and yellow creature rushed forward, icy energy pulsing around its mouth as it prepared to bite down on its foe. "Sableye, Thunderpunch!" I commanded quickly in response to the opponent's command.

Sableye's claws curled into a fist that crackled with electrical energy. I smirked to myself. There was no doubt about it, Croconaw stood no chance. The big jaw pokemon was already too close to Sableye to stop its attack so it continued head first. Thunder and ice clashed with each other, causing a thin layer of smoke to cover the battlefield.

I looked around frantically for Sableye. I doubted that he was seriously hurt, but I didn't want to take any chances. A small purple figure darted around in the mist before pausing and hugging my legs. I grinned, I had been right. Sableye was just fine. Now to find out what happened to-

"Croconaw is unable to battle! The winner is Victorie and her Sableye!" The referee, a student in the grade above me, announced whilst raising a green flag towards the area where I was standing. I bent down and high fived the little ghost.

"Great job, Sableye. You've mastered that Thunderpunch. No water pokemon is gonna bug us now!" The purple creature cackled in agreement before succumbing to the red light that was emitted from the pokeball I was returning him to. I smiled before heading over to my opponent, who had just returned his Croconaw.

He looked over and noticed me with a smile. "Great match, you've trained that Sableye of yours very well." I smiled in reply. "Thank you! Your Croconaw is brilliant, that Aqua Tail is really powerful." He chuckled softly. "Thanks. So you're Victorie, right?" I nodded in confirmation. "Ah, nice to meet you. I'm Matt, in the grade above you."

I picked up my bag as he picked up his and we walked towards the main building, away from the outdoor battlefield. He held open the door for me, which made me smile. He was a lot nicer than _Drew_. "We'll have to have another battle again sometime. With different pokemon. I wonder how my Charmeleon would fare against another one of your pokemon…" I laughed. "Very well I expect, if your Charmeleon is anything like your Croconaw. I'll pair my Ghastly with it… if it's still a Ghastly. Maybe it'll evolve by that time."

We turned the corner and I paused at my classroom. I had history first thing, which I admit, I wasn't very happy about. History class was quite boring, to be honest. Last time we learned about the history of pokeballs. Next I believe we're learning about Pokemon Centers, how they were when they were older compared to now.

"If it is a Haunter, then it'll be a even match. Nice talking to you, Victorie." I waved as Matt walked down the hall. "You too." I called back before opening the door to my classroom and coming face to face with my history teacher. He frowned down at me. I grimaced before scooting towards my desk and getting ready for the lesson.

--~*~--

As expected, History class was boring. Gym was no better. I had no one that I knew in either class and the teachers were boring… and it didn't seem as if they liked me much. I wonder what I did to make them dislike me so. Was it something I said?

I brushed that off as I headed towards the cafeteria. After Gym I had one more lesson, so that meant that it was lunch time for me. Not that I was really hungry, but it was a nice time to relax a bit. And I hadn't seen Grace or Luna all day. Luna and Gary were chatting while Grace was with Drew. What in the world was she doing with _him?_ I frowned but said nothing and went to join the two.

--~*~--

The rest of the day went by pretty fast after that. Classes were a bit more interesting, since I actually had Grace and Luna in them. And even if I didn't have them in class, I had Gary. I also met that guy, Paul's his name I think. He's an interesting person; seems kind of bland if you ask me. Maybe that's because he's always frowning.

I was walking towards the Devon Corporation building, actually excited. I was curious about what sort of work I would be doing, whom I would be working with, and of course I was excited about just being able to go around the building and whatever. Plus, Mr. Stone had exhibits of rare stones everywhere that Steven collected and sent him. That, I admit, was just plain cool.

I paused in front of the building, admiring it before walking inside, where I was greeted kindly by the receptionist. "You must be Miss Victorie de Blume. Please, allow me to show you to Mr. Stone's office." I followed up the stairs for a couple flights before pausing in front of a set of large doors that I had seen all too many times. Mr. Stone himself opened the door and held his arms open wide with a smile. I gave a half hearted smile back.

"Victorie! Great to see you! I was just talking about you." He exclaimed, letting me into his office. The receptionist shut the door and headed back down the stairs. "Oh? I hope that you were only saying good things about me." I smiled as Mr. Stone burst out into hearty laughter. "Of course. Drew here seemed to agree to everything I said." I looked over at Mister High-and-Mighty who seemed to be smirking.

Typical.

"Well, I'm glad for that." I smiled sweetly. Mr. Stone nodded in agreement before offering me a seat. It being the polite thing to do, I sat down neatly on the cushioned sofa. "I presume Leon told you that Drew was going to show you around the building, since it's your first day and all. If you need any help, you can ask him, and he'll help you however he can."

I smirked as it seemed that Drew's grandfather was giving him a hard look. Obviously it seemed that they had talked about this before. Drew shrugged in reply to his elder and then looked over at me. "C'mon, let's go." I waved farewell to Mr. Stone and followed the green haired coordinator out of the room.

"I can't believe that I left the Oak household to show _you_ around." Drew drawled as soon as we reached the stairs. I turned to him sharply. "You were at Grace's place?" He shrugged and began to walk downstairs. "What of it?" I frowned and followed him. "If you said anything to make her upset I'll-"

I was cut short by Drew who pushed me, not a lot, but a little. I immediately stood up angrily; "What was that for?!" He pointed over my shoulder. I turned around and noticed a man with a white lab coat carrying something in his arms. "If I didn't push you, you would have gotten hit by his machine." I paused, maybe he wasn't so bad... "Oh. Uhmm, thanks." He shrugged. "Think nothing of it, amateur."

Or maybe he was.

"Jerk!"

--~*~--

Drew and I did our best to rush through the tour of the building, because it was a bit awkward being together. It was especially annoying when the woman who stood in the elevator thought we were together. Ha, as if. I was relieved when Drew announced that we had finished.

"Finally. Now I can actually get some work done." I paused and took out a small list from my pocket that I had received from one of the scientists in the lab. "I hate to ask this, but do you know where I might find... Annelise?" Drew chuckled before letting his laugh slip into a smirk. "Yeah, you can find her downstairs. She's one of the main scientists who works on the Pokemon Dream Projector. Want me to show you?"

I thought about it. I think I remembered where the Dream Projector was. Plus, if I get lost, I can ask one of the receptionists or something; and I didn't really want to be in the presence of the coordinating jerk much longer. During the entire tour he kept drawling on and on about how _his_ family created this and that. As if I didn't already know that.

"No, I'm fine. I know where it is." He mumbled an "okay" as I left. I made a right turn out of the room I was in and headed down the stairs. It was easy enough to find the room where the researchers were hard at work. I passed the Pokemon Transformator, which was supposed to turn humans into pokemon. The scientist that was fixing some cables said that it wasn't finished yet, the most they had managed to complete was turning a person half pokemon. They ended up having claws or a beak or something, but that was about it. And the effects wore off after about an hour.

The second machine I passed was the Pokemon Speaker. It was a machine that was supposed to allow humans to communicate with pokemon, and it was actually turning out a lot better than the Transformator. They had been able to communicate with pokemon for the most part, but the machine still needed to be worked on. They were only able to understand the basic gist of what pokemon were saying. For example, if a pokemon was saying something about it being hungry, the only word the Speaker was able to translate was: "hungry."

I finally reached the Pokemon Dream Speaker where I met Annelise. She was a blonde haired, middle aged woman, with a bright smile and violet eyes that peeked out from behind a pair of thin rimmed glasses.

"Oh hello! You must be Victorie." I nodded in reply to her words. She had a quiet voice; she seemed like a very soft-spoken person. "I'm Annelise, pleasure to meet you. Mr. President suggested that you get to know the people here and run some errands for us, so you can get used to the place. Is that alright with you?" I nodded. "Yes, that's fine. What can I do for you all?" Annelise paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, at the moment we're testing to see if different stones could help power up the machine so it would be environmentally friendlier. We talked to Mr. President about it and he thinks it's a good idea, so can you see if you can get one of the Fire Stones that are located upstairs? If you ask Kennedy, Mr. President's assistant, he'll show you."

I nodded and left to get to work. I wanted to make a good impression after all. These are the people that I would be spending quite a bit of time with, I expect.

--~*~--

I arrived home fairly late, since I had no homework and chose to spend more time at the Devon Building than planned. The first thing I did of course was feed my ghost buddies before letting them wander throughout the house. Then I went to look for my father, who wasn't in his room or in the kitchen.

I eventually found him sitting in the living room with a book in his hands. He looked up at me through his reading glasses and smiled, motioning for me to sit by him. I did so and smiled. "How was your first day at your part time job?" He asked, putting a bookmark in the spot where he stopped reading and then shutting his book. "It was quite nice actually. I met Annelise and Kennedy and I got to learn all about the machines that are being worked on. It's really fascinating actually."

"Well that's good to hear. Did you negotiate a salary and schedule with Mr. Stone?" I froze. How could I forget the most important part?! "Whoops." I mumbled. My dad, typical him, laughed. "It's okay, you can do it another time. You're not planning on working on the weekends are you?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not. I actually have plans to go to the Slateport Beach with some of my friends this weekend, if that's alright. I figured since you have that business trip anyway, it would be okay." My father nodded in confirmation. "That's fine, I'm glad you've made some friends. See? There are some bright sides to moving to Hoenn. And yes, I'm going to Mauville for a business meeting." I shrugged. "Doesn't mean that I like Hoenn better than Johto. If I could move there, I would."

My father sighed. "I know you would. Have you talked to Morty about him visiting Hoenn for a bit? I know you miss him and Eusine. I have another letter for you from them." I brightened. "I have! He said he would try and visit in time for my birthday. I doubt Eusine will come though, but that's okay. Are you going to let me go to Johto over the Winter Holidays? Or the Summer Holidays at least?"

"That's a bit far off, don't you think? Why don't we cross that bridge when we get there?" My dad suggested. I shrugged and asked where my letter was. He said he put it in my room. I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before rushing to my room where I found a neatly handwritten envelope on my bed. I flopped down onto the soft covers and held the paper in my hand.

I opened the envelope and stared blankly at the long letter before me. I sighed. I really wished I was back in Johto so I could talk to Morty face to face, rather than having him send me a letter. I set the envelope down beside me, but as I did so, I heard a small rattle of an object moving inside the paper. I picked up the envelope again and gently shook it. To my surprise, a small Fog Badge fell out.

I stared in wonder at the small sparkling object in my hand. I had seen Morty hand these out occasionally, when he lost, but I had never expected to get one myself. I picked up the letter and began to read for an explanation. I found one, last paragraph of the two page long letter.

"Enclosed is a Fog Badge, as you would know. I figure that the future gym leader of Ecruteak should have a copy of her own badge, right? There's a small puncture at the top of the badge, you can make a necklace out of it if you like. If you do, you'd better wear it when I visit… whenever that may be. Much love, Morty." I read aloud before bursting into a quiet giggle. I wrapped my fingers around the metal object, feeling the cold metal press against my skin. It was comforting.

"Guess I'd better write a letter in reply." I smiled to myself. "Don't worry Morty, I'll treasure my little memoir. I'll make it a necklace. And you can bet your legendaries that I'll be wearing it when you visit."

* * *

**Kinda boring, I know. Sorry. x]  
My apologies for taking _forever _to update. ;; **

**~ Sa - chan  
**


	12. Luna : Lift From A Certain Brunette

_Sorry for the slow updates guys...it's Sa-chan's fault for lacking the ability xD Onyl buzzing hun! But anywho, here I just feel like answering a one thing from a review to make clear, even though Bethan finds it hilarious ¬.¬ seriously, she's still laughing about it, maybe I'll hit her in a minute...  
__But anywhoo, Morty and Victorie are in no way related...I have absolutely no idea where that absurb thought came from :S Mehh...  
And as for how old Morty is...mehh, about Victorie's age. Things are soon gonna get interesting ;] Hahaa  
And I was forced to update once more *glares* And in the end I actually stabbed myself with a compass and Bethan announced my undying love that I have a huuuge crush on him :( so yahh, I'm still mad about that! Sa-chan hasn't annoyed me...yet xD  
So here we go, enjoyy =]_

_**L**__ift **F**rom **A C**ertain **B**runette_

_L u n a - ×_

Contrary to yesterday, I woke up rather late today. I did get a good few hours sleep though, I must have just been too reluctant to leave my dreams, it was much more comfortable. But since I had a good night's sleep I was in a rather good mood. Except my awakening wasn't too pleasant, having your alarm clock ringing in a constant, rhythmic shrill beeping is rather annoying. I jerked out of my sleep, focusing my bleary eyes to the dim lighting which was caused only from the speck of sunlight that glowed against the curtains. When I focused myself back into reality, I glanced at the flashing digits on my clock and blinked in shock. Apparently I had set the stupid thing an hour late, meaning I have fifteen minutes to get ready for school! I jumped to it, and I was just tying up my hair when dad called.

"Luna! Hurry up, you'll be late!" he bellowed down the hall. I grimaced as I wound a hair bobbin around my hair then dashed down the hall. I hadn't even gotten breakfast, so I was going be hungry till break.

I made a mental not to fix my alarm clock when I got home, but I was still in an unusually good mood, smiling brightly at dad, ignoring his tick face. He eyed me suspicious but let it pass as since he was terrified of being late; latophobic as I call it. It didn't bother me, but when I got to school I had to rush to class straightaway. Even so I was late and shuffled through the door nervously; ready to be given out to. My eyes quickly scanned over the class and to my relief I got no traces of the colour green, meaning no Drew. Through my brief glance I also realised there was no Grace or Victorie…or even Paul for that matter. Where they trying to keep me away from everyone I know?

"And who might you be?" the teacher enquired, blocking my view of everyone.

I looked back up at him and attempted a sincere smile, although my bright mood was rapidly declining to one more of negativity. "Err, Luna Lockheart sir." I replied in a semi-polite tone.

"And your reasons for being late?"

I shuffled awkwardly and I felt a tinge of pink spread across my cheeks. "Um…I set my alarm clock to the wrong time." I murmured, but some people still heard, and snickered under their breath. A humorous twinkle was also in the teacher's eyes and the thin straight line for his mouth wavered slightly into a deformed shape. He allowed me to pass and I instantly scrambled into the nearest seat. I didn't even check who it was; I just sighed and rummaged around in my bag for my books.

"Now take them down." the teacher whose name remained a mystery to me practically ordered, slamming some pointer stick at the white board which had random information about pages and questions we were to do scrawled across in his tiny italicized handwriting. I peered over my desk to read it, and suddenly clicked what class I was in. I must have misread my timetable and had the books for _tomorrow's_ class. I searched desperately for my book, but to no avail, and let out a quiet moan. "Is there a problem, Luna?"

I poked my head from under the desk and looked at the teacher. I smiled feebly; "Well, I kinda, sorta have the wrong books." I said with a faux grin. He appeared unimpressed, and tutted under his breath before indicating to the person beside me to share their book. I glanced up to see who it was considering they were chuckling quietly to my slight offence, but I soon forgot that and forced back a bright grin upon realising I had actually plonked myself right beside Gary.

"Bad start?" he offered, moving his book into the middle of the desk.

"Yeah." I breathed, giggling idiotically making a spare copy materialize from my bag. He smirked, writing something in his copy whilst not really looking at it. Regardless his perfect cursive script remained aligned with the thin gap between the lines, and I blinked in shock at his ability that I couldn't do to save my life. My writing would go loopy-loop off the point, crooked falling off the page kind of style if I ever attempted that. "Whoa, how'd you do that?" I asked bewildered.

His writing didn't halt as he tilted his head to look at me, and a blush formatted across my cheeks under his lovely dark eyes. I instantly wished I hadn't said anything, but I did so I ended up peering nervously back at him. "I dunno, I don't really think about it." he admitted, and suddenly his writing did go lopsided and he stopped himself with a near silent titter.

"You thought about it, didn't you?" I said, fumbling through my pencil case for some tip-x for him, considering it was my fault, but I'd probably have done it anyway.

He hummed in response, accepting the object and dabbing the black ink with the liquid substance inside. He couldn't write for a few seconds anyway for it to dry, and I hadn't even started. I blinked when I focused at the first question: write a page about Eevee's and their evolution cycle. I can't construct a basic sentence, never mind a page of writing! I fiddled with my pen whilst staring at my blank page, wondering where to start. Eevee's are strange Pokémon that can evolve into – um, how many Pokémon? – a certain amount of other Pokémon. No, that won't work, and I ended up scribbling out half a sentence and ruining my once clean copy. I tried again; Eave can evolve into lots of Pokémon. My, won't they think we're very well educated in Sinnoh, being taught such a vast amount of vocabulary.

I chewed the tip of my pen, trying to desperately recall all the names of the Eevee evolutions. I tried once more; An Eevee is that of a peculiar creature which has several higher up evolutionary forms which consist of…I got stuck again, and I sounded so high class and snooty that time. I scribbled it out once more, then another go. Eevee is one of the Pokémon which generally habitats in the – I got stuck again. Where did they come from again?

"Kanto region." I heard a voice mutter beside me. I blinked and glanced to my side where Gary was smirking, innocently writing away at his own copy. I wondered if I had been hearing things, but shook my head and wrote it down anyway. Then I continued on; They have several forms they can evolve into, such as Flareon, Vaporeon, Umbreon, Glaceon and Leafeon. I had a feeling I was missing some though, and tapped the desk irritably, trying to think of them. "Jolteon and Espeon." I blinked again, I felt sure I had definitely heard someone that time, but when I looked around everyone was busy at work. I frowned but accepted the information anyway, and scribbled it down in my handicapped handwriting.

Okay, I had two sentences down which covered two and a half lines. Great, only seventeen and a half to go, but knowing these stupid textbooks when it says _a page_ it really means _two pages_. I continued anyway; They are fairly rare and linger more around…damn, I couldn't think of the word at the moment. "Urban territory." I heard that same voice mutter again! I idiotically whipped my head to look around again, and this time one or two looked up and gave me a weird look. I instantly retracted myself and scribbled down the information while it was still in my head.

Now I'm stumped once more. Well, mainly because I'm trying to identify the source of whoever kept speaking. I began writing again, and pretended to be stuck, but the mysterious person didn't attempt to help, so I just ended up writing it in after a few minutes. I even finished the mini-essay, and most of the other questions, but I got stuck once more on a question, what status ailment a Rawst Berry heals. I tapped the desk repeatedly with my pen, making it click in time and the nib constantly poking in and out of it.

"Burn." was the simple helping answer, and I caught it that time. I looked at Gary who had actually managed to finish his questions and he chuckled at my reaction. Of course it was Gary, I can be so thick sometimes! I scribbled down the answer just as the bell went, and we were assigned the questions we didn't complete. I had only finished half of them, and I just groaned while packing my books away.

"Thanks for the help in there." I said when we were both outside the classroom.

He shrugged the gratitude off with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "No problem. So what do you have next?" he asked.

"Err," I pulled out my timetable which I kept in my pocket, "Geography…" I mentally groaned.

"You better make sure you have your books this time." I suddenly stopped, trying to remember if I had them in my bag. No, I didn't, I had my Design Technology books in it instead considering that was a double first thing tomorrow. "What's wrong?" Gary snapped me out of my train of thoughts.

"I don't have my books…I need to go to my locker." I explained, but I didn't really want to leave his presence. It helped me stay in my good mood, regardless of the trouble I'll be in if I'm late again.

"You'll be late though." he stated. I dithered awkwardly in the hall. Be late or no equipment, either way I was going to get into trouble. I weighed the odds of me managing to make it to my locker and back to the classroom in two minutes. Ha, no chance! I can't run for the life of me, which is what I'd have to do if I were to make it on time. "Here, I'll come with you." he offered, steering me in the opposite direction to the class by my arm.

"B-but you'll b-be l-l-late." I stuttered nervously at the contact and I felt my face burning.

"I'm in gym, I doubt they'll mind." he said, "So where's your locker."

So no matter how much I protested about him getting to class, I ended up showing him my locker and looking for my book in it, which was rather difficult since it was a mess. Half of it fell out when I stuck in the key and turned it, and we both had to jump back to avoid ourselves from getting injured. Then whilst he led me back to class he actually got me laughing and we engaged in a proper conversation, devoid of my embarrassing stuttering. He also told the teacher why I was late, which was actually a lie but he got away with it and they instantly believed the 'grandson of Professor Oak'. I paid less attention then I usually did in Geography and just practically daydreamed of the brunette.

Surprisingly it passed really quickly. It was like, I blinked and the bell rung. I actually got sort of paranoid and began thinking maybe I only blinked once that whole class, but then I knew that couldn't have been the case, even when you space out you still blink as normal. It was break now, and to my surprise when I exited the geography room Gary was passing it miraculously at the same time. I grinned and bounded over to him, and he blinked, acknowledging my presence. "Hey again." I greeted cheerfully.

"Oh, hey." he replied with a slight laugh. "How was geography?"

I hummed a note of displeasure. "Actually I have no idea, I didn't pay attention." I admitted.

"And why would that be?" he asked, arching an eyebrow as he glanced down at me to his side.

"Err, I was thinking."

"About?"

A ferocious blush rose to my face, and I did not need a mirror to tell me how red I had gone. I decided to quickly change the subject when he forced himself to stifle his laughter. "Can't wait to go to the beach." I announced happily. By this time we were actually walking outside, though I wasn't really paying attention. Then something struck me that my parents had told me last night, and disappointment must have been blatant on my face considering the suspicious look Gary gave me.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just remembered I won't be able to go. Dad's taking the car to get repaired or something because Kayla managed to slam the door too hard and broke a light on it…" I explained sadly.

"Oh," he murmured, looking excessively cheerless. Then an idea struck him, grasping my attention. "Hey, I can give you a lift." he offered.

My eyes lit up in joy, and if it wasn't just a metaphor, would have illuminated all of our surroundings tenfold. "That would be great!" I squeaked, and if I were at all sane I would not have done my next move, but unfortunately I did and before I could stop myself I had wrapped my arms around the boy in a tight hug. It took me quite a few moments to register what I was doing, and as soon as I did I instantly detangled myself from him with a fresh red hot blush shrouding my face. When I glanced at his it was probably equally as red and I tittered quietly under my breath, diverting my gaze to my feet nervously.

He began laughing slightly too, rubbing the back of his head and ruffling several of his brilliant brunette spikes. "Anytime." he said. His face looked like it was cooling much faster then mine, but the 'anytime' didn't help, from the given implications it gave me. I don't think he noticed though.

I blinked in shock suddenly when I saw Grace…Grace with _Drew_!? I absently began gaping when I saw them together, and I frown also creased my forehead. I was very tempted to growl something like, 'What is _she_ doing with _him_?' but I restrained myself. Victorie actually came over a few moments later, also eying the two suspiciously. I continued watching them from the corner of my eye as our conversation continued, and when the bell went I noticed Grace fall, and Drew catch her. He then said something to her and suddenly she looked like she was about to cry. I blinked and Victorie was over to her, dragging her off and I just stood there with Gary, seething in fury. "What did he say to her?" I wondered aloud, my voice thick with anger.

"I dunno." Gary mumbled, looking exceptionally worried. "I think I'll call gramps." he said and hurried inside to head to the receptionist. I watched him go, then shot Drew a glare who was looking rather bewildered himself, then scooted inside for the next class.

The rest of the school day really passed as a blur. I didn't really tune into reality unless I was with Gary, which I had frequently actually. I also had Paul in one of my classes, him being his usual scowling self. Drew seemed rather impassive for the one class I had him in. Before I knew it I was driving home in the car with dad, just gazing absently out of the window.

"What's wrong, Luna?" dad asked eventually.

I snapped into reality and looked at him keep his eyes fixed on the road. "Nothing, I'm just worried about my friend." I said. He nodded in understanding silently. "Hey dad, can I go to the beach with a few friends on Friday, we're camping."

He appeared a little sceptical. "The cars going in to be repaired on Friday." he reminded me.

"I know, Gary offered me a lift." I said, not noticing the happy smile that materialized on my face.

"A boy?" He did his weird cross-eyed trick to examine me.

"Dad!" I screeched. "It's Gary Oak, from—" I didn't even get a chance to finish since Dad cut in.

"Gary Oak! Samuel Oak's Grandson? You have a date with the grandson of the famous professor of Kanto?" I half shouted in bewilderment, and actually almost crashed the car.

I buried my head in my arms which were resting on the dashboard. "It's not a date," my muffled voice said, "We're just friends."

"Right, right, just don't get up to anything since you will be alone, right?"

"Dad!" I screamed so loud I'm surprised the windscreen didn't shatter.

* * *

_I couldn't resist xD I'd love to be Luna at the hug bit, but noooo, Bethan said I wasn't ALLOWED to be...): she's being mean to me! Pssh, well I still love her anywayz x]  
Actually Sa-chan's laughing about the whole Mosty/Victorie thing now...D: Am I the only one who sees this as a problem!? Anywhoo, they want me to post this now, they're harassing me again ): So yahh...I better do it before they both attack me.......  
Well Bethan probably will...she's not herself lately o.O PokeShipping? Diet? Something's possessed her...anywhoo, baiii =D_

_Scarlett~  
Over&&Out~_

**

* * *

**


	13. Grace : Poles Apart

**Just to confirm; I am not possessed, I am completely fine. Scarlett dared me to comment on her crush's profile and she now knows never to call my bluff because I enjoy watching people crumple when I do the dare. Sorry bub. XD  
Oh and the name Luna Lockheart was not from Harry Potter; I was told to tell you it was from two different characters from Final Fantasy. I was the first to notice, but it is purely a coincidence because she hasn't read the Harry Potter Books. =O**

Poles Apart

Grace.

So Thursday was a blur, me and my brother were taken to a town called Fortree with Grandpappy; because he thought we could do with a day off. Which was stupid really, we're four days into a brand new term. I felt totally fine but the more I insisted I was okay, the more Gary played up.

So here I was, sat up in tree houses. I scowled at Gary as he slumped pathetically into his chair, I had to get back at him somehow; "I'm surprised you didn't want to be at school."

"Why?" He asked, once Grandpappy was out of ear's reach.

I smirked wickedly; "Because we had Design and Technology today."

"And?"

I sighed; "And Luna was in it."

He stiffened, his response was exactly what I wanted; "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh…" I sighed in sceptical sarcasm.

"You didn't have Pokémon care today though, so why would you want to go to school so badly?"  
Ahh, I fell into that one… "I had gym." Oops.

"I see." Gary grinned, now content that he had something to throw back at me. "What?" I lied as innocently as possible; I knew what he had assumed by my statement. He was wrong. So so wrong…

"Now I'm confused." He grumbled, then turned to stare at my face to see my reaction; "Are you leading Drew on?"

"What?" That one shocked me; I'd known him a day and this is what Gary assumes?! "I- err… Um." I frantically scurried around my head to find a way to come back at him; "Are_ you_ leading Luna on?"  
"No." He blushed; "Are you?"

"Not intentionally." I replied, I could be certain now he'd pointed it out, I'd have to be extra careful around Drew now, I wasn't interested in him… No. I'm not interested in anyone. No one… nope.

"So it's Paul then." He grinned even wider, I hated when he jumped to conclusions. I couldn't even think of an answer, I just protested; "I _barely_ ever speak to the guy." I snorted, then wandered off to where Grandpappy was stood.

"Ahh! Perfect!" He exclaimed at me. I blinked nervously as Gary came up behind me; his eyes equally as wide eyed and curious.

Grandpappy frowned; "Sorry Gary, I'm going to ask Grace for this, I'm hoping it will cheer her up. You understand."

"If Gary is better for the job, I'm fine, Grandpappy." I protested, but Gary nudged me and shook his head.

Grandpappy laughed; "Actually, _you_ would be the better of the two for this anyway, Grace." He picked up a round object covered in a blanket; "I was wondering if you could take care of this I've been given. It'd be good for you to experience, as you want to be a nurse and all…"

I carefully unpeeled the cloth to find a while egg inside. I cradled it in my arms carefully, and grinned at my Grandfather; "Thank you!" I squealed; "I can keep it?" I asked with my eyes the size of a Jigglypuff's.

"Of course, as long as I can research it when it's hatched."

This was why I had to come, and I was very pleased to have given up a chance to run in gym for this. It filled me up with pride to know I was going to be a mother.

--~*~--

I took my egg into Pokémon care on Friday, showing off how I was going to look after it. I let Drew hold it, and we talked as much as Wednesday, but I was extremely careful not to portray anything in my body language.

"You can use this egg for your project, if you like." Miss Hollicome grinned at me, I nodded eagerly. I would be a little bored re-researching my Vaporeon. I'd already done that with Grandpappy when she evolved.

"What are you doing yours on?" I asked Drew, he grinned back at me; "the newly discovered shiny stone, I'm going to see what enhancements it will have on my Roselia."

My eyes must have been sparkling; the thoughts of looking into such a new thing excited me. He chuckled at me, and I had to fight the red tinge to my cheeks.

"Shiny stones were found in Sinnoh, you should ask Luna about them. She's from there." I smiled, trying my best to be helpful.

Drew tutted, he would have flicked his hair if he weren't passing me the egg. "She doesn't talk to me."

"Why not?" This was news to me, I knew she disliked him, but I didn't know that he'd tested that.

He shrugged; "She doesn't like the fact that I'm a coordinator as well as a better trainer than her."

"Maybe she's just not used to your inflated ego." I teased, and he rolled his eyes.

--~*~--

The rest of the day went pretty fast. We all sat together at lunch, (including Paul, to my surprise,) to talk arrangements.

"We'll go by bike, head on through the tunnel, then down the biking road." I grinned, excitement could not be held off my face.

Luna coughed; "Err… I'm going with Gary."

I shot a look at my brother, he kept himself composed, but in his eyes I could see the cold glare that locked onto me. He had not told me about this, but then again, he had not refused his liking for her. Now he'd just confirmed it.

"You can cook right?" Tori asked, and Luna nodded; "We'll have the tent up and a barbeque going by the time you get there."

"With time to spare." Drew chuckled, I heard Paul snort too, and I tittered at the remark as Gary went a subtle red colour.

"Nobody asked you." Luna snapped, and we all stopped abruptly. I stared at my food nervously, I was not one for confrontation, unless it was against Gary; I'd gotten used to that.

Drew stood up slowly, Paul following, just in case the green haired beauty lunged for my friend. He walked off stiffly, I could feel Tori hyperventilating as quietly as possible, and Gary reached for Luna's arm to calm her; it worked, of course.

"Drew will take us to your house to meet you," by 'us' he meant Victorie and himself, they didn't know where I lived yet; "I'll see you later."

I clenched my teeth together to refrain my jaw from dropping and nodded woodenly, he actually spoke to me in a civilised manner. I was in utter shock, and as soon as he'd gone I heard Gary chuckle. The tension from my two girl friends dropped at the sound of his chime laugh. I didn't bother to look over; I stared after the purple hair until he turned a corner out of my sight, then looked suddenly back down at my food. Why was I tingling so? I changed my train of thought to my egg, and began to rub it gently. The other three chatted excitedly about the beach trip, and I was quick to join in.

--~*~--

I scrubbed my bike continuously while Gary packed the enormous tent into the tiniest rucksack that Luna would wear on her way. I packed my bag too, a few sets of clothes, my flip flops and swimwear. Toiletries and lots of other little things were packed ant my bag was just about bearable.

"Are you going to be alright with that?" Gary eyed the bag curiously; "Do you really need that much?"  
I glared at him; "Knowing you, Gary Oak, you've probably forgotten something, I can't be too careful." I carefully placed my egg in the bag, cushioning it with all of my clothes.

"Do you think it'll be alright?" Gary wondered, and I glared at him; "I'm more worried about leaving Luna with you than my egg."

He stiffened; "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know exactly what I mean." I smirked, zipping up my bag once satisfied. He grumbled something, then slumped onto my bed. I smiled and sat beside him; "You'll be nice to her, won't you?" I worried, it was a bit of a stupid question, but I felt the need to ask anyway.

"Of course I will, I wouldn't hurt her."

"You better not do," I warned; "Or it'll be me you'll have to answer to."

He chuckled, pulling me into a headlock; "Should I be afraid?" I flailed my arms wildly and eventually landed on his head so he loosened his grip around me.

"Very afraid." I growled in the best imitation of Paul as possible with my high pitched squeak of a voice. We laughed together, our voices were very similar, except his had deepened through time. We were like the same song played on the same piano, just at different keys.

"Are you two ready?" Grandpappy peeped through the door to find us both drifting off into a light snooze, we opened our eyes carefully, and he laughed at us; "Are you sure you're going to make it?"

There was a knock at the door, and I sprang up and leapt down the stairs to open it. I heard Grandpappy mumble something to Gary about keeping me safe, I rolled me eyes. There stood Drew, smirking gorgeously at me, with Victorie a little distance away from him, and Paul stood against the wall with his back towards me.

"Hey!" Victorie chimed at me, if she didn't look so uncomfortable she would be jumping in excitement. I greeted them and let them enter, Paul hesitantly following them.

I guess I must have hoped he would still be in the civilised state as earlier, because I grinned at him; "Excited?"

He didn't even look at me, he grunted and followed Drew into the living room.

Gary looked at me nervously as he passed me towards the door, he hugged me quickly and whispered a 'see you later,' then headed for Luna's house.

"I'm just going to get my stuff, then we can set off!" I called into the living room as I ran for my room. I heard one pair hop lightly after me and find my room. I grinned at Tori as she bounced around excitedly. This smile would not wipe off my face, my cheeks were beginning to ache.

She looked at my bag and rose an eyebrow, then we giggled and skipped down the stairs. It was quite obvious she wasn't comfortable around Drew at all. Maybe this was going to be awkward.

"Let's go!" My high pitched voice rang through the house; Drew sped through the door and let himself out of the front door as he had done his previous visit. I clutched onto Tori's hand and we made our way out, Paul skulking after us and fetched his bike while I locked up.

He returned with Tori's bike, and she thanked him quietly, pulling a face at me when he wasn't looking. I went around the back of the house to get mine, and then we rode away up through town.

Drew flanked Paul who was clearly strong enough to go faster even with his large bag, but he held back for me and Tori with shorter legs. Me, being the shortest one here, had to work twice as hard to keep up.

We reached the cave in no time, Drew and Paul obviously knew their way through pretty easily, we foreigners stayed right behind them. I called out Kirlia and sat her in my front basket, Tori did likewise with a Sableye, so we could use flash to lighten the area. They went back in our pokeballs to make the journey lighter when we didn't need the flash as much.

We pushed on through, not allowed to stop until we reached the Bicycle road. I swigged at my water quickly, nearly finishing the bottle, Drew watched in disbelief; "That's going to haunt you when we're riding again."

I shrugged it off and hopped back on my bike, the sooner we got there the better. It was at a slight downhill, so I started off the rolling and breezed easily along with Paul, I was not going to give up my reputation for being fast. I grinned at him scowling, pushing his legs to go faster, but my tiny weight threw me effortlessly down the hill. I was on grass in no time.

Of course I didn't stop.

I flew off headfirst the moment the friction became tough under my wheels. I rolled and gasped as I came to a stop. I heard my name called several times, but my maternal instinct told me to think about the baby first. I frantically reached through my bag.

A faint cry came from under the clothes as I threw them out carelessly, frantically reaching for my egg. A sharp feeling made me recoil a little, and I feared the worse. Tears blundered along my eyes as I pulled out the last bit of closing.

"Cas…" A small murmur cooed up at me. I looked at the little form with wide, curious eyes. I reached out for it instinctively, and it smiled.

"Grace?!" A fluster of my name was hurdled at me, starting my baby. I huddled her in close and it shied away into me.

"Grace are you okay?" Drew's voice wavered along the gap between us. I nodded slowly, hushing my darling.

I turned slowly; "Look, look!" I giggled softly, and they huddled around me curiously, the pokemon stared with wide eyes up at its audience.

"That's a Castform." Paul grunted, his voice was not liked by my Castform. It pressed its head into me shyly.

His hand grabbed onto my elbow; slightly grazed with blood at the surface, a little oozing out at the joint. I blushed under the contact, he didn't seem to notice, but he checked over the side I'd scraped; from my arm to my thigh. He prodded carefully until he was satisfied I was fine, no matter how much I complained that I was.

"What are you going to do now?" Tori asked, after she'd finished silently giggling with Drew at my heated face; "You can't ride with it."

I smiled back, with a hint of annoyance in my eyes; "I'll walk with my bike, you can go ahead. I'll be there soon." They looked between each other nervously, but eventually set off. I sighed, that would teach me to show off. I'd never been so frightened for another in my life.

"Cast…" It grumbled, and began to glow. I held it away from me, to observe it as best possible. The pokemon was now orange, with small, transparent orange spheres along its head. It resembled the sun beautifully.

"Can I help you?" I looked up at this new voice, I did not recognise him. His blonde hair blew slightly in the wind and was fashioned with a thick baby blue band. His top was the same blue. His features were pretty handsome, and he had a grace about him that made him look important.

"I'm on my way to the beach, actually." I replied, pulling Castform closer to me.

He grinned; "Me too, let me wheel your bike there." He didn't wait for my reply and took it from me quickly. "You look way too much like your Grandfather to be anyone else. You're Professor Oak's kid, right?"

I nodded in surprise; "You know him?"

"I'm met him at the Devon Corp. He said my friend was coming to the beach." He replied; "I'm surprising her, you see."

I smiled at him; "That's nice of you. Where are you from?"

"Johto. I'm Morty." I suddenly clicked, duh, that's why Grandpappy had sent him here; to find Tori. We chatted endlessly until we got there, and I heard Tori screech as soon as she saw us; "Morty!" They hugged and squealed at each other, and Gary came to greet me; "Visitor?"

I nodded; "He wanted to surprise Tori."

"I meant your Castform." He smiled at me, carefully taking her from me. His kind low rumble of a voice must have been soothing to feel against his chest, because Castform dropped off pretty quickly.

"Uncle Gary." I grinned at him, and he chuckled back. It must have disturbed her, she began to shudder and glow again, he looked to me nervously and I shook my head; "She's changing forms."  
She reappeared in a blue colour with a pretty whip on top. I frowned; "Rain?" I looked up to the sky, not a cloud for miles.

"Grace!" Luna yelled from the tent, she emerged in her swimming costume; "We're going swimming! Want to come?"

Gary sighed; "I'm battling Paul now. I'll look after Castform if you want to go."

I grinned and hugged my brother, Lapras and Vaporeon would love to be back at home.

--~*~--

Luna and Tori had already run off before I was dressed, so I hurried over with Vaporeon making a dash for the sea. I ran past Morty and Paul talking, and waved quickly; "Good luck with your battle!" I smiled, and he nodded back to me.

Why do I bother?

Vaporeon pushed at my knees to speed up again, and I used my speedy legs to my advantage. I was by the shore in no time. My bubble jet Pokémon climbed up a nearby rock pool and dove into the water with elegance.

"Lapras!" I called, releasing my Pokémon; it wailed melodically at me and waited for me to be sat on its shell safely before propelling towards my two friends.

I coiled my body around the blunt spikes of my Lapras' shell, with my head dangling backwards and my hair dipping into the clean sea as I looked upside down at my friends. I saw Vaporeon leap into the air and dive behind them and giggled; "Coming for a ride?"

They nodded excitedly, and Lapras held out a fin for them to hoist onto its shell with. I leant against its neck and the other two settled against a spike each.

"This is better than I imagined." Luna grinned, but I shivered; "It's a little cold." Tori agreed with me, Sinnoh must be freezing compared to this. Luna explained this was their average summer, we gasped in horror.

"It's like a new spring in Johto!" She shuddered and we giggled together.

We all knew what we wanted to talk about, but where to begin was the difficult part. The easiest person to interrogate seemed to be Luna, now that she'd accepted a ride off my brother, but I wasn't too comfortable bringing it up myself.

Victorie didn't seem to have a problem; "So what did _you _get up to while we were pedaling down here?" She smirked, and Luna went bright red; "Nothing." She protested; "We put the tent up, you arrived by then."

I pouted; "That's not exciting." The way Gary had spoken of her; I would have thought he'd have made a move by now.

"He didn't say _anything_?" Tori pushed, her disappointment showing through too, Luna looked at me awkwardly; "not much."

"I don't mind you know, if you're worried about me knowing." I smiled, I could see it in her eyes she was desperate to share something.

She sighed; "Well…" A small tittered left her lips nervously, glancing between the two of us and never settling on one of our faces for more than a second. She eventually rested her eyeline on her lap. "I'd just finished getting changed into my bikini, so I pulled on some shorts seeing as I wasn't going to go swimming until you got here."

I giggled, I could see where this was going, Tori frowned though, she didn't know my brother the way I did.

Luna's face turned Plusle red at the recent memory as she recalled it, becoming brighter by the second, she still looked at me carefully every so often, but became more involved in her story telling; "Well when I got out of the tent, what little we already had up that is…" She added; "He dropped practically everything, of course I went this hot." She pointed at her face, she obviously could feel the intense heat in her cheeks, we giggled at her and quieted quickly to listen to the rest.

"I don't even remember what he said, he just walked up to me…"

"He didn't!" Tori squealed suddenly, interrupting Luna.

"No." She sighed; "He didn't."

"Then what did he do?" I pushed, frowning curiously; this was not like Gary at all. If he wanted something, he was confident that he would get it.

She sighed again, this time a little less dreamily; "he's such a tease!" Her voice came out as a growl.

We left it there, she didn't look like she was in a mood for sharing anymore.

"What about you?"

I looked up to see who Luna was aiming her question to, of course it had to be me. "What _about_ me?" I sighed sarcastically.

"I take it you and Drew are going somewhere." She scowled, and Tori suddenly looked up in interest, scanning my face for signs. Where on earth were they getting this from? Was I the only one oblivious to this?

"Drew doesn't think of me that way, and I don't for him." I said carefully, but Tori snorted; "He was very concerned when you fell off your bike."

"You fell off your bike?!" Luna squealed, and I explained my story. Tori added; "He nearly had a heart attack when she flew over her handlebars."

I sighed in defeat; "again, nothing between us."

"Oh that's right: 'you're attention lies elsewhere.'" Tori quoted me; I'd hoped she had forgotten that. I twisted my face into a grimace.

Luna danced a little in excitement, Lapras grumbled its soft tune and she steadied herself; "Gary was right wasn't he? It's Paul isn't it!?"

"I'm going to kill him…" I flared up, standing up on the shell.

"He is!" Luna flailed her arms and nudged Tori excitedly. I glared at her; "I didn't say that, I'm just going to kill my brother."

I dove in, and Vaporeon came to assist me, its beautiful muscular tail pounded at the water with ease, I could feel the floor in no time. I could hear Lapras sloshing after me, but I was seeing red.

"Kirlia!" She materialized on my command, but froze on the spot. "What's wrong?" I asked her, and she huddled into my side. I forgot what I was doing and focused on Kirlia.

"Vulpix!" I heard Luna cry, I turned to find her scooping the little fox Pokémon from the waves, Tori's Misdreavus was acting oddly too.

We had to return them all to calm them, and we looked to each other nervously. Tori looked up over my head; "Is that… Rain?!"

I turned on my heels, sure enough; rain was pouring down in one patch. It was disturbing, how the weather was so unpredictable.

But Castform had predicted it. My legs began running before I knew what I was doing; my baby was in that freak storm, as was my brother and friends. My name wasn't called, but I knew both of them were following.

I saw a green speck walking towards us, and my legs pushed harder, Drew was alone, where were the others? I was practically flying towards him my legs leapt across the sand so fast. I spotted a blue glow in his arms and I knew my Castform was okay. I hurried closer, my muscles filled with lactic acid; they oozed with the ache as my lungs tried to catch up with my heart.

"Drew! Drew, what happened?!" I panted as loud as possible as I slowed to a stop.

"I er…" He thought of his story; "We don't like the rain, so I offered to take your Castform out."

I blushed; "That's nice of you." He nodded stiffly at me, holding out my sweet little Castform. I gasped, she wasn't normal. She was in the shape of the sun, but her colour was blue; "What happened to her?" I shrieked, snatching her away from Drew's arms. He recoiled a little, but looked behind me; "I think your friend is waiting for you." He said to Tori, and she skipped off without another word. Luna followed hurriedly, not wanting to be with a Coordinator.

Thanks guys, leave me with Drew. How awkward could this be?

"She should be okay, once she shifts back to her original form." He smiled, oh my, that darn smile! My body shivered at the sight, I couldn't help but grin back; it scarred my worry and masked it completely. Only Castform nuzzling into me lightly made me stop.

He looked over his shoulder suddenly, scratching the back of his head and then turning back to me; "Want to go for a ride on your Lapras?"

I nodded eagerly, a little too much; I had to concentrate to keep myself looking normal.

Lapras spotted me returning to the shoreline and swam back swiftly, it eyed Castform quietly.

"This is your new sister, she's family now." I said to Lapras, it cooed its high cry to the baby, and she babbled back.

I smiled; "Drew would like to meet you too, Lapras." I smiled; it nodded and turned around for us to climb on.

"Having fun?" I questioned, at least this should be a decent conversation; girly ones got a little too much for me after a while. He hummed a 'yes' back to me; clearly not.

"Is there something wrong?" I said softly, craning my head around to see his facial expression. He looked away and out to the sea, I bit my lip carefully.

I sighed; "Don't let them get to you, they're both strong minded, they'll accept who you are soon."

He chuckled half heartedly, causing me to worry further, I hooked my arm around his and pulled him in for a hug; "They will, I promise."

He didn't respond to my hug, he just stiffened into a rock form of Drew. I let go of him eventually, trying to suppress my scowl, patience is a virtue…

"Tell me what's wrong, Drew. Please?" My lips upturned hopefully, but his beautiful eyes were lifeless and bored; "Why?" He replied, sighing.

I shrugged, hugging into my knees and looking out to the horizon as I spoke; "because I can help you."

"I don't have anything to talk about…" He muttered and eventually added; "Sorry."

I smiled back at him; "That's fine, as long as you're okay."

He smiled back at me; I clamped my teeth around the insides of my lips to hold them into a normal smile.

We spoke almost normally from then. I say almost because he made no effort to spark topics, but happily responded to mine. We sat at the shore's edge so the waves pushed with the last of their energy to reach our feet, selfishly pulling the sand away from under them. The sun was close to setting, so I returned my Pokémon, including Castform.

"Grace?"

I sighed and looked past my shoulder to see his face faintly smiling back at me.

"You're a nice person, you know?"

I chuckled; "You've told me before." It didn't stop me blushing.

"Have I?" I nodded at him; "Must've forgotten that one." He muttered, mainly to himself.

The wind brushed salty air through my hair and filled my nose, it was heavenly strong; it cooled my burning skin under the setting sun.

"Thanks, though." I smiled, but it faltered as he sat up suddenly. His face was insanely close to mine, I didn't know whether he'd done that on purpose or he was planning something to happen, but I heard yelling from further away. It suddenly occurred to me that one was Gary's voice.

We were up and running over before we knew it, the sand had dried and so crumbled away making it that much harder to push ourselves along. I admired Drew for managing to keep up with me, but it was soon discarded for I found myself slowing to listen.

"He's an idiot! What is he even doing here? He wasn't invited!" His fist swung back, I feared he was going to hit one of them.

My speed hadn't slowed enough for me to only tap him lightly, I collided into him and pinned him to the floor.

"What do you think you're doing?! That's Tori's friend! He helped me too!" My voice was a high pitched growl, not very intimidating, but it was enough to show I was being serious.

Gary glared at me; "He insulted us."

"No he didn't." Tori objected, stepping forward from the small circle around the two of us. Morty pulled on her shoulder, shaking his head slowly and she walked closer to him. I felt Gary squirm underneath me.

"Are you _trying _to ruin this for us? Shall we just go back now? Because if we do I'm going to cause you hell for the rest of your sorry ass life!" I yelled, but he didn't even flinch at me.

Instead he yelled back; "Don't you talk to me like that! How dare you!?"

"Me!" I didn't realise my voice could go much higher, my teeth were clenched together as I spat through them; "You're the one insulting people, Gary, not me, not Morty; _You."_

"Why don't you run and tell _Grandpappy_ that!?"

That broke my worn down patience, my temper unleashed, ripping my hand back from his wrist and lunging to strike him, but instead I felt myself being dragged up by my arm. Someone fairly strong was pulling me away but I was too busy seething at my brother.

The gripping hands shook me to face the way I was going; my heels dragged into the sand, without much prevail. I soon stopped when I realised who was restraining me; Paul. To my shock, he was pulling me towards a bench. I started walking sulkily behind him, and slumped into the sand beside the bench.

He sat above me and sighed; "Never seen you like _that _before."

"My brother's never taunted me like that before." I grumbled, folding my arms across my cold body. The sun had completely set and I missed it over a stupid fight that wasn't even my own.

His warm hands slid under my shoulders and pulled me up onto the bench, and when I shuddered at the difference of our body temperatures, he surprisingly put his arm around me. His darker complexion was also a lot more heat efficient than mine, I didn't soak in warmth the way he clearly could. I sunk into him reflexively, and he straightened his back.

Where was the heat coming from in my cheeks? I honestly didn't need it there, but no, they flared up to a subtle, but noticeable red. I cringed when he chuckled at me.

I glared at him playfully; "What?"

"You're more fiery than sweet. I don't think Nursing is quite for you…"

I growled; "How dare…" I paused, thinking carefully then smirking; "How do _you _know I want to be a nurse?"

He became flustered suddenly, blinking rapidly; "I… Asked Drew."

"You've been thinking about me?" I nudged him gently, but he still recoiled. I swear I saw him nod, but I wasn't sure, I carried on anyway; "I've been thinking about you too."

Oh no, I've done it now. Moment of truth time, I guess. Breathe; suffocation isn't a good thing in these situations.

The grimace already had me sinking in disappointment before he began to grumble; "Grace…"

"I'm cold." I interrupted; "I'm going to go get some warm clothes on." I jumped up from the bench and forced a smile as I walked away and waved at him.

It wasn't until I was in the tent bedroom and dressed in my nightwear, and settled into bed did the tears begin tumbling, I was surprised I'd kept it calm until then. It hurt. I hated this rejection, even though I'd been too cowardly to take it all, now he'd have to bear the burden. I was the stupid one who brought it up, why should he have to suffer the guilt? Great, now I've ruined the trip...

It wasn't a huge pain, it was several tiny pains, the worst kind that look really pathetic but hurt like who knows what. It felt like pins; twisting carefully and painfully slowly through my heart one way, and out of the other and then pulled back quickly to leave it to throb. My lungs throbbed their cries in time.

I managed to calm myself before someone found me, that someone being Drew.

"Hey." He whispered, I stayed still with my eyes closed in the hopes that he would leave me alone.

He didn't; "I know you're awake Grace, I heard you crying."

I opened them slowly, watching him slowly sit beside me and pull my sleeping bag to him too. He lifted me to sit on my knees, and pulled my head onto his shoulder. I let out a few sobs to satisfy him, but half-hearted ones that my body could only just produce, it just wanted to sleep.

My legs fell from under me, and I felt myself slowly slip to just be lay beside Drew, my head just about lay on his chest. I sniffled, how pathetic of me.

"He doesn't like me." I complained childishly, I twiddled my fingers along the creases of his shirt.

"I wouldn't go that far," he muttered painfully back; "he's just going through a rough time at the moment. Wait it out, you'll see."

A short burst of hope rushed through me, if my face wasn't so fresh with misery, the blooming smile may have been able to show in my lips.

"Sorry," I whispered, fighting back the tear-hiccups; "I shouldn't be telling you this."

"Why?" I didn't have to look to know he was frowning down at me with those emerald eyes.

I couldn't look at him, I felt so ashamed; "I'm sorry about... What happened at the shore..."

"Forget about it; just a spur of the moment thing."

I sighed, looking around the lighter areas of the tent; "I didn't think you were interested in me, I'm not worthy for someone like you anyway."

"What does that mean?" His voice became a growl; I shuddered at the reminder of Paul.

I exhaled slowly again; "Tori is a lot prettier than me, I've seen the way you look at her; you look hurt. That's why you tried to be nice to me, isn't it?"

He shrugged, it made me feel a little used if anything, but he was the one here comforting me now.

"You're pretty." He said slowly, not admitting or denying his liking for Tori just confirmed it for me. I looked up to his face and he smiled gently; "stop crying." He almost pleaded, so I dropped my eyeline back in shame.

"Thank you Drew, you're a great friend."

I felt his chest bounce my head around as he chuckled, and I settled into forty-winks.

**Hahaa, so yeah, this took me days and days to write. Exactly 6000 words!**

**Sorry it's so long, we had a very large plot for this day. Stay tuned for Luna and Tori's version of the day, each of their views have unique plots! **


	14. Luna: A Series Of Surprising Events

_Well lookie, Scarlett is uploading next =D I was (as usual) the last to get the update done, but Sa-chan has apparently disappeared off the face of the earth so I guess I'm posting next xP! Err, and I know about the whole Luna Lockheart thing, it actually shocked me that everyone recognised it from Harry Potter and I was like, wtf!? So I had to harrass my brother to tell me :] I think I rememebr my friend harping on about Luna Lovegoody or whateff her name is x]  
And the reviews made me and Bethan lol xP Sa-chan is still gone so mehh.....  
You'll get why we both laughed eventually, and when you do you'll all hit yourselves xDD And we enjoy switching guys around to frustrate yous all :P The couplings could be very surprising, yet they could also be expected o.O  
We all (me and Bethan since Sa-chan is still seemingly dead¬_¬) love the support :] Although I'm not sure when I'll be updating next because my friend's threatening to rip some peoples heads off...so I might be decapitated by wednesday :S Mehh~~ I don't think the others shall aprove xD anyway, shut up Scarlett...:P_

**

* * *

**

_**A S**eries **O**f **S**urpring **E**vents_

_L u n a - ×_

Thursday was boring, and Gary wasn't in. I wondered if he was injured, or maybe he had fallen fatally ill overnight. Then I felt like an idiot, so just brushed all the thoughts out of my head and attempted to look not so depressed just because my friend's brother and my crush wasn't in. I had a rather peculiar encounter with the pink haired guy. He's kind of strange – strange being the biggest understatement of the century. He just randomly tackled me into a hug and started harping on about how much he loves Vulpix. What the hell; was he stalking me or something? He also announced his name is Riley, which I always thought was a girl's name, but apparently it's for both sexes. Note to self: Avoid Riley at all costs.

So then it was obviously Friday, unless I was actually stupid and was getting my days of the week messed up. But when I checked on the calendar I was apparently right. So I went to school as normal in the car which would be driven to some other place after Dad dropped me home later. School was a bit better then yesterday since Gary was seemingly under no influence of suffering from a near-death or lethal experience. Lunch was…awkward. We were just chattering away as we generally do about the plans for later, when the idiot had to make a snarky just to benefit his needs which mainly seemed to consist in annoying me.

"With time to spare." he had said, failing to stifle a snicker. Grace, caught off guard by it giggled under her breath and I heard Paul make a sound which would be his equivalent to a chuckle. Victorie stayed quiet and I saw from the corner of my eye Gary's tanned face gaining a tinge of red. It didn't take a genius to comprehend what he was implying.

I glared at him. "Nobody asked you." I said, a little sharper then I intended. Everyone stopped laughing; Grace diverting her gaze to pick at her lunch, Victorie flickered into a slightly distressed emotion, Paul's expression was unreadable, Gary seemed slightly uncomfortable, and Drew glared at me.

He stood up and I actually felt rather threatened in case he attacked. Fighting wasn't something I liked; it always ended badly for everyone. Of course I could hold my own too. I watched him warily and Paul stood up too, his hand twitching in case he'd have to hold meadow head back. He didn't actually attack though, making him seem rather restrained, but the fact several peers and two teacher's attention were draw over to us might have had something to do with it. He just walked off instead, and Paul muttered something which everyone except me most likely picked up before following his friend.

As soon as the two left Gary chuckled quietly, making me instantly feel better by the sound of his voice. I smiled slightly and Victorie quickly sorted herself out too. I noticed Grace staring after Paul and I smiled inwardly, but I kept my mouth shut for one of the rare occasions. Instead I decided to spark up the beach trip in a conversation and we began chattering away animatedly again excitedly.

**.::^-^::.**

When I got home I instantly dashed upstairs to discard of my schoolbag which, if I didn't know better would have though was filled with rocks. Then I began packing my own bag of necessities. Kayla decided to 'help', so I ended up doing twice as much as I would have originally had to do. The little moron, she wouldn't go either and Mum kept saying to 'be nice' whenever I shouted at her so by the time I had finished I looked a wreck. So I got a quick shower and when I got out I could hear my Mum shouting.

"Sweetie-pie, Gary's here!" she called in her sing-song voice.

I closed my eyes and cursed silently. "Be there in a second." I replied, a second evidently meaning several minutes. I swear Mum actually told Gary that was what I meant, but I couldn't really tell. I towel dried my hair mostly, also drying it with my trusty hair-dryer. It was lethal too, it scorched your head, but actually did no hair damage because it had an inferred thing so it never directed heat straight at your head. It cost a fortune too, but dried my hair quickly enough to my satisfaction. My hair bobbins had once more mysteriously disappeared but I couldn't be bothered to search for them so I rushed down the hall to where Gary was waiting with my brat for a sister chatting away nineteen to a dozen.

"Sorry." I squeaked, cutting my idiotic sister off who glared at me angrily.

"Mum! Luna interrupted me!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger at me.

I rolled my eyes and gave Mum a quick hug. "Bye honey, have fun. And be careful Gary you don't crash or get lost or fall off or…" she kept the list going for a while and I made an irritated expression with my back turned to her.

"Bye Mum." I eventually said, gesturing Gary towards the door. He seemed relieved to have an excuse to go. One of the most embarrassing things ever to happen to me. I shot Mum a glare which she didn't seem to care about before exiting myself.

"Be careful!" she called after me before shutting the door.

I sighed with relief whilst Gary just chuckled. "Sorry again." I murmured, staring at helmet he had handed me to avoid him seeing my flushed cheeks.

He chuckled in response. "It's okay, though I'd be lying if I said I was used to it." He smiled when I looked up. "Anyway, c'mon, we wouldn't want them to beat us there." I giggled idiotically, pulling the helmet on and hopping on behind him. "Hold on." he told me, making me wrap my arms around his waist, producing a fierce blush to spread across my face. He couldn't see it though, evidently because of the helmet, but he didn't even look back at me. He started up vehicle and soon enough we were whizzing down the streets of Rustboro, faster then I anticipated and ended up latching even tighter onto him.

It was pretty impossible to have an intelligible conversation with each other, so for the journey we were mostly quiet. I didn't mind, the silence was soothing. Well, if you want to call having an engine making a racket silence then yeah. I came so accustomed to the sound I almost dropped off with my head rested on Gary's shoulder, but just then he stopped, and the sudden jerk pulled me into full conscious.

"We're here." he announced, and I instantly removed myself from him and pulled off the helmet to get a better look of our surroundings. Such a lovely beach, I must say. Well, any beach would look lovely to me, considering I had never been to one before. I snapped away from gazing dreamily at the crystalline waters a little way off when Gary spoke up again. "Better set up the tents." he stated.

"Of course." I breathed, reluctantly turning my back to the view to begin wrestling with the massive tent that had somehow materialized from the smallest bag we had. I gazed at it in disbelief, pondering how it even managed to fit into the bag. I shrugged it off through and began setting it up with absolutely no help at all from the handicapped instructions that I had to make Gary decipher.

We talked during our work, where he mentioned something about Grace and Paul, which evidently made me giggle. Then, after what felt like ages, since I didn't have the time on me, we were mostly done. I grinned triumphantly at what I had achieved, while's Gary's melodious laugh rang out at my face. "You look rather proud of yourself there." he called from across where he was working.

"Well I am, it's quite an achievement in my opinion." a said in mock annoyance, although my bright smile was a dead giveaway. "Anyway, I'll be back in a few minutes." I chimed, departing into the tent with my bag of supplies. I just rummaged through it for my bikini which I put on so I could go swimming later when Grace and Victorie arrived, but considering they weren't here yet I also put on some shorts and a pair of flip flops.

I smiled in contentment before shuffling back out of the tent, actually accomplishing in making a lot of noise. When I appeared Gary's attention was instantly drawn to me. I could already feel my face heating up under his gaze, and whatever he was doing he simply forgot about. He began walking towards me and I tell you, I certainly did _not_ need a mirror to tell me how red I was going. My feet shuffled back slightly, but I obviously couldn't go that far since that absolutely huge tent was in the way.

When he was mere inches away from me he leaned in and my breath got caught in my throat, but I found his mouth was beside my ear. "You're gonna have a hard time helping me finish the other tent in that." he murmured into it, and I saw the subtle gesture he made to my top. I didn't actually think my face could go any redder until he said that, and when he pulled away he clearly noticed the change in shades and chuckled. I don't know if it was from embarrassment or anger, but either way I was most likely a lovely shade of crimson. What was worse was I couldn't even think of a comeback! I just looked at him blankly, lacking response.

"Err…" I managed to say, my impassive eyes unable to flicker away from his dark ones. It wasn't exactly the greatest of responses, but was enough to let him know I hadn't died on the inside.

"Shocking, you actually forgot how to speak." he snickered, earning another black expression from me since, once more I couldn't come up with a retort. "I think they'll be coming soon. I'd better get changed." he mumbled, more to himself then anything, making it seem he'd almost forgotten my presence. He then grinned mischievously at me. "But wouldn't that give them a few ideas."

He never failed to make my blush grow fiercer, which would then subsequently make him chuckle. But that was the end of it and he vanished inside the tent. I sighed, fanning my face to desperately cool it, which quite honestly did nil. I actually ended up splashing water on my face, which dried in a matter of seconds from the heat that radiated from the sun. When Gary emerged from the depths of the tent everyone suddenly appeared – except Grace. My first reaction was panic, as was Gary's, but I soon harassed Victorie to tell me and I'm pretty sure Gary did the same with Paul and Drew.

**.::^-^::.**

When Grace arrived with a boy who was apparently the infamous Morty. That was a bit of a surprise, and she also had a new Pokémon, which looked rather interesting from afar. Then we went swimming after some chatter where I was interrogated about what happened between me and Gary. I don't think all the blood rushing to my face was overly good for me…but Grace completely avoided my questioning between her and _Drew_. Tori didn't show any blatant feelings for any of the guys, so I didn't bother harassing her. Instead I released Vulpix whilst Tori let out Misdreavus.

The next thing that happened was really weird; it just suddenly started to lash down with rain. Then all the Pokémon just freaked, and Vulpix suddenly lunged into the water. I shrieked and scooped her out, drying her off best I could before returning her. Grace and Tori had to return their Pokémon too and we all looked at each other in confusion. Then, something suddenly clicked inside Grace and she randomly dashed off up the beach. I blinked in surprise, then ran after her with Victorie. Though when we caught up with her, she was with Drew so I simply rolled my eyes and continued onwards to some sanctuary.

When we got there I saw Grace on Lapras again, riding with _Drew_. I made a face of disgust; I really could not state my hatred for coordinators, even if it is petty. Victorie went off to change, which I did likewise, and when I came out into the open I went to chat with Gary seeing as Tori was with Morty.

"Hey Gary." I chirped, bouncing up to him.

He just barely acknowledged my presence, flickering his eyes over to me before bringing them back to Tori and Morty into what seemed like a _glare_? Maybe I was just imagining it. He didn't make any move to spark up a conversation, instead allowing an awkward silence to shroud over us. "So, how'd your battle with Paul go?" I asked cheerily.

"Fine." was his one-worded response, this time not even bothering to look at me.

"And who won?" I pressed, my smiled wavering slightly in annoyance.

"What does it matter to you?" he snapped, his glare switching from Tori and Morty to me. I blinked in surprise, intimidated by his sudden fierceness.

"My, what's wrong with you? Did you lose or something and deciding to take it out on someone else?" I growled, crossing my arms irritably, although inside I was crying. Why was he being so mean!?

He continued to glare, making me shuffle awkwardly. "Leave me alone." he spat, then stalked off somewhere else. I sighed unhappily, shuffling in the opposite direction and plopping myself on a rock. What was his problem? My cheery mood had rapidly diminished from that one conversation.

I felt a presence join me, and to my surprise it was Paul. I blinked in surprise, while he just smiled. He smiled? Whoa, I think everyone's possessed or something. "Hey, what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing." I lied through my teeth, diverting my gaze back to Grace and Drew who were riding towards the shore. "So, I heard you like Grace." I attempted to converse.

"Yeah." he breathed awkwardly, and I blinked once more in surprise. "But are you going to tell me what's wrong?" he instantly switched the topic back.

"I told you, nothing." I murmured in annoyance.

He chuckled, and I watched him from the corner of my eye. "And I'm not stupid." he stated.

And you expect me to take your word on that?" I challenged, sitting up to look at him better. I can definitely tell what Grace sees in him when I look at him closer, he's gorgeous. Skin even more tanned then Gary's, lovely plum coloured locks framing his face, sharp eyes even darker then Gary's, a perfectly angular face.

"Well why wouldn't you?" he retorted, arching an eyebrow.

"Well it's not like I know you." I stated matter-of-factly.

He paused for a second. "You know me a lot better then you think." he murmured.

"What?" I enquired, entirely confused. "Of course I don't know you, I've never spoken to you before." But before he could response we heard shouts. My head shot into the direction of them and saw Gary arguing with Tori and Morty. "What is up with him?" I growled angrily, rising to a stand.

Paul actually held me back though when I attempted to go over there. "He'll probably hit you if you go over." he said, and his concern made me blush. But before I could say anything he rushed over there. Defiantly I went over too, ignoring the warning glare from Paul, which didn't fail to make me cheeks tinge a shade darker again. I watched in shock as he began raising a fist.

"Gary! Stop!" I shrieked, "What's wrong?"

He whipped around and began shouting some incoherent words which I couldn't pick up. I did get a few, him calling me stupid, obsessive, petty, annoying, and a bitch. At the last one I could feel the salty tears sting my eyes, and I couldn't even say anything back. Thank the heavens Grace suddenly materialized from thin air and lunged at him, beginning to shout at him. How she managed to make her voice so shrill I don't know.

Their squabbling continued until Grace actually snapped and would have probably ripped Gary's head off if it weren't for Paul dragging her away. He was acting rather weird too; caring. Maybe he's just shy, and finds he can now open up to us. He's actually nice though, if that's the case, when apparently, either Gary was wearing this permanent mask or is just having a bad day. But she never mentioned he ever acted like this. Victorie was being dragged away too by Morty. So now it was just me and Gary, with Drew being at a currently unknown location.

He still looked furious, but I really wanted to calm him down. "Gary, what's wrong?" I asked, cautiously approaching him.

"Like you'd understand, stupid girl." he shouted, piercing his dark eyes into me.

I kept my hold though, refusing to crumple. "Of course I would, if anyone's acting stupid around here it's you!" I yelled. I can't believe I just called Gary an idiot. "You just suddenly have a fit when Morty walks in! Since when have you ever cared about meaningless stuff like that?"

"Oh, you're an expert on getting worked up on meaningless stuff, aren't you?" he snapped.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh I'm sure you're aware of your idiotic grudge against coordinators, before you even know them!"

I stiffened. "What's that got to do with this?" I growled, unable to come up with anything else to say.

"Nothing," he growled, "but apparently it seems to have a big influence on people." With that he turned on his heel and walked off.

The second he left my composure dropped and I felt absolutely miserable. I just stared after him sadly, a perplexed expression plastered across my face. I decided I'd go to my tent to get something, but then I suddenly heard voices. Gary, Paul and Drew's actually. I frowned slightly, skulking around the tent closer to hear. I knew eavesdropping was wrong, but I was curious to see what was up with them.

"Idiot, she looks miserable." I heard Paul growl. I shuffled closer to the voices. "You better make it up to her."

"Fine, whatever." Gary grumbled.

There was a pause. "You better not hurt her." Paul's voice said with a warning tone.

"Fine, but you have to comfort Grace." I imagined Gary was talking to Paul, but to my surprise Drew replied.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Drew grunted, his monotonous voice sounding miserable. "So what are you going to do?"

Paul's voice replied. "I'm going to make sure he," there was a muffled sound of pain from Gary, "doesn't mess up my chance with Luna."

My jaw dropped in shock. Paul's chance with me? Oh, no, I don't like Paul! Well, he's handsome, and seems really nice when he opens up. But Gary still has my attention, even after the way he acted today. I quickly shuffled away when I heard footsteps coming towards my hiding spot, and ran to look for Grace and Victorie. Grace was nowhere to be found, so I settled with telling Tori the entire conversation. She seemed rather spaced out, and I wasn't even sure if she was listening. After only managing to get several monosyllabic answers from her I gave up. What was wrong with everyone today!?

In the end Victorie decided she'd depart to her tent for sleep, but I really wasn't tired. I was trying to make sense of that conversation. I settled myself on a rock, absently gazing across the lovely sea. But I just couldn't focus on the lovely waters that I had never seen before. My mind was racing with concern and confusion. So Paul wanted Gary to comfort me so he could have a chance with me, whilst Gary wanted Drew to comfort Grace. Well I doubt Grace would really want to talk to him, so that one kind of made sense, but did they not have the brain capacity to decide for themselves?

"Hey." a voice made me jump. I looked in the direction it had come from, and I found Gary had settled himself beside me. I looked back out to the sea, not really wanting to talk to him, I still felt terrible. "Err, sorry about earlier." he mumbled awkwardly.

"Whatever." I grunted in response. I noticed from the corner of my eye Gary look over his shoulder with a desperate expression on his face, but I pretended not to notice.

In a few seconds he looked back. "So, um, are you okay now?" The sound of an irritated beyond belief growl could be heard, which seemed considerably deep.

I frowned and looked around, but to no avail. "What was that?" I demanded, frowning.

"Err, I um, Gary's having a fit?" he said in more a questioning tone.

I gazed at him blankly. "You are Gary." I told him, spacing my words out as if I was talking to someone stupid, which I seem to be doing.

"Oh yeah." he murmured to himself. I actually felt rather concerned, considering he seemed considerably pale then his usual tanned face, and his eyes seemed full of anxiety and dreaded anticipation. I rolled my eyes though and looked away again, trying to make it out I'm still annoyed, which I was, don't get me wrong. "Hey, Luna?" he said. I moved my head slightly and they widened in shock when Gary's seemed to be pushed towards me forcefully. It took me a moment to realise Gary was actually _kissing me_. The only problem was he seemed stiff, as if trying to register what was going on himself, but as soon as he did he pulled back. "I should, err, see how Grace is now." he stammered quickly, rising to a stand and hurrying off.

I blinked several times, as if to make sure I was in reality. Sure enough I was, and Gary really had kissed me. But it wasn't what I though it's be. There was no spark, and it didn't feel right, kind of awkward, as if I was kissing someone completely different. And the mistake with him saying he was having a fit elsewhere was weird too. My brow furrowed as I tried to make sense of the last events, but that awkward kiss kept replaying. My Mum always said if there's no spark, then there never will be, but even if it was just one day, I have different views on Gary now. He was almost acting like…_a coordinator_.

I decided I'd better go to sleep, so I departed back to my tent. Paul and Gary were both sleeping in the same one, but when went in Gary wasn't there, just Paul. He smiled at me making a flood of relief run through me. He seemed the only normal person at the moment.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, concern clouding his eyes at my probably evident confused expression.

"Oh, yeah, it's just…" I trailed off, but continued when he urged me to. "Gary's acting a little weird…I don't know what to think of him now. Well actually all the guys are acting weird." I then added quickly, "No offence."

He chuckled, although his expression was growing more impassive, except not in a Paul kind of way. "It's okay, we're just experiencing," he paused, struggling to find a word. "complications." I burst into a fit of giggles, and he laughed too. It sounded so charming and lovely coming from him, and it made my grin widen, exactly like how Gary could make it. He then brushed some of my fringe out of my eyes, revealing my concealed face. It made me blush. "Y'know, you should keep that clipped back. It hides your face." My blush intensified. "Such a pretty face too." Like earlier, my face was rapidly becoming crimson, and I swear my heart skipped a beat.

"Thanks." I mumbled timidly, making him chuckle again. "I think I'll get some sleep." I excused myself, but when I got to where I'd be sleeping a grin broke out on my face. I don't know why though, it's Paul, but it's a different side of Paul, one I hadn't seen. Maybe I'd been looking at the wrong guy all along. I hurried into my bed clothes and soon fell into a happy sleep. Such a strange day, I must say.

* * *

_Ahhh, review naoooo =DDDDDD_

_Over**&&**Out~_


	15. Victorie : Unexpected Reunions

Unexpected Reunions

Victorie

-

My dad was pacing around in my room nervously that evening. A moment ago I kind of let it slip that there we would be spending the night at the beach. It wasn't that he didn't trust me and the others girls, but I also kinda told him that there would be some guys there as well.

He didn't take that too well.

"Dad, I swear on the name of Arceus that nothing bad is going to happen. The tent is split into three parts. One section for the girls, one section for the guys, and a section in the middle as a place to converse between the two sexes; it will be fine."

He still didn't look convinced. Two minutes later he finally sighed and sat down next to me on my bed. I had been sitting there watching him the entire time. I knew that it would take him a little bit to finally give in.

"Alright, Victorie. But you have to promise me-"

I hugged him. "I know, Dad. I promise that nothing will happen between me and anyone. It's not even like I like any of the guys there anyway. I told you before, one of them is Steven's son, the other one is Professor Oak's grandson, and… huh. I don't know who the other one is related to. Does the name Reggie ring a bell?"

"Not really. I trust you, remember that, okay?" I smiled gently. "I will, don't worry. When are you coming back from your business trip?"

"Most likely Sunday, late evening; I have a couple of meetings, even though the place I'm travelling to isn't that far away. Do you think you'll be back by then?"

I nodded. Of course I would. My friends were great, don't get me wrong, but I liked spending time with my father too. And I would feel bad if I left him alone… he doesn't have anyone to keep him company other than me anymore.

"Oh definitely. I'll make some dinner, something you can heat up if you're still hungry when you get back. Are you taking Alakazam with you?" My father nodded. I snapped my fingers in mock disappointment. "Oh darn. I was hoping to use his spoon to cook with."

We both burst into laughter.

--~*~--

So there I was in Grace's room on Saturday morning. She had a pretty room; it reminded me a bit of mine. It was a sunny day, brightening the walls. I looked around and admired the room for a moment before bursting with happiness. My smile seemed to help brighten up the room, if I do say so myself. It made Grace smile back, that's for sure.

I think both of our cheeks were aching by the time our smiles died down.

I followed her back downstairs and we moved to get our bikes. I looked around for mine, only to find that Paul had brought it over with him. My face became masked in surprise. Paul was… actually being nice? Wow, that's a new one.

"Oh, uhmm, thank you!" I mumbled, taking my bike from him.

It was a black bike with silvery stars on it. My old bike – Eusine had helped me paint it a couple of years ago. It was during that time that he had been obsessed with magic tricks, along with legendary pokemon, and somehow or another he convinced me to paint my bike with stars because they were "gorgeous symbols of wizardry." Or something to that effect.

I was too excited about just painting my new bike that I didn't care what we put on it.

Before hopping on my bike, I switched my PokeNav on. I looked at the menu screen and was about to put the device back in my pocket when it vibrated. A small picture of a Pidgey flapped its wings. It was holding a letter in its beak. That was a sign that I had a new message.

The picture dissipated. I tapped the inbox button and watched as the screen switched again. I clicked on the newest message which was from my dad. I scanned through it with a smile.

_Morning my little ghost, just wanted to let you know that I love you and that I hope you have fun on your little escapade. I'll be thinking of you! (Something to do whilst trying not to fall asleep during my meeting…) Much love, Dad. _

I giggled to myself quietly. That was so typical of him. Sometimes my dad could be a completely laid back person and other times he could be the hardest worker in the world. One thing that he did hate about work was the meetings. I had never been to one myself, but many times had I heard that they were boring. It was basically just listening to one or two men drone on and on about some uninteresting topic.

Sound fun? I thought so too.

I pocketed my PokeNav when I heard Grace call my name. I hopped on my bike and pedalled over to her before we began our little journey.

--~*~--

We were pretty close to the beach when we came across a large cave. Not only was it huge in size, but it was also extremely dark. I could navigate my way through the dark fairly well, but I don't think others really could. After spending all that time in the Burnt Tower past midnight, I should hope that I could navigate okay in the dark.

Long story.

Grace released her Kirlia and ordered in to use the move Flash. Her Kirlia began to dimly light up the cave, but it wasn't enough for us to be able to navigate without accidentally hurting ourselves. I pondered the thought before snapping my fingers. I moved my freehand towards my belt and pressed one of my pokeball's notches.

In a burst of red light my Sableye appeared. In the dark its large grin and twinkling sapphire eyes would have scared anyone who wasn't used to seeing ghost pokemon. I actually found it quite cute. Most people would call me twisted for thinking something like that, but hey, everyone has their own opinions right?

"Sableye, can you give Kirlia a hand? Use Flash!"

My Sableye's eyes twinkled again before they began to glow brightly, along with the rest of it. With the new source of light combining with the old source, we could see the cave quite clearly. Good thing we did too, there was a pretty narrow path coming along.

We continued for a little while until we finally reached the end of the tunnel, where the group of us embraced the light. We pedalled on until Grace began to speed up, she couldn't stop, and crashed! I panicked and raced over to her, where I found that her egg had hatched and floating above her was a Castform. The little thing looked around at everyone with curious eyes. I couldn't decide whether that was a pleasant surprise or something more along the lines of annoying.

"You can't really ride with your Castform…" I mumbled nervously.

It turned out to be neither because Grace said that she would walk her bike to the beach along with her Castform. Drew and I were very reluctant to leave her; no surprise either. She did have Kirlia and her other pokemon, but who knows what could happen when we weren't travelling in a group. Wild pokemon could attack her!

I would never forgive myself if something happened to Grace.

Eventually though, she somehow convinced us to continue on. After Drew made sure that she was completely positive about continuing on her own, we biked away. I watched her figure disappear in the distance. It was kind of unnerving, but we kept on biking.

As we did so, I felt Sableye shift on my back. The little ghost seemed to notice my discomfort and gently patted me. I couldn't help but smile. And they say that ghosts don't care.

We paused after reaching the bottom of the hill we had just been biking on. I returned Sableye and then looked back at the mountain of grass with a worried glance. I felt someone tap my shoulder. I spun my head around to see Drew, who had also paused in his biking. He smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Grace will be fine."

And for some reason, even though I was still a bit upset with him, his words seemed to comfort me. I smiled weakly back before mounting my bike again and biking alongside the green haired coordinator towards Slateport beach.

--~*~--

The beach was exquisite. It was absolutely gorgeous and it was perfect weather to go swimming. The sun smiled down at us in the blue sky; not a cloud was in sight. The sand was warm beneath my feet and coloured golden. The cool sea waves kissed the shore and sparkled in the natural light. Coloured umbrellas and towels dotted the beach and there were a few children splashing about a little ways off.

I'll admit, there are very few beaches as nice as this one in Johto.

We locked our bikes away and then headed towards one end of the beach so we could see if Luna and Gary needed anymore help with setting up the tent and whatever. Turns out that they were already finished and ready to go when we walked over; in fact, both were already changed and everything. Luna and I started to chat quietly amongst ourselves when Gary announced that Grace was here. I quickly turned my head and sure enough, there she was, completely unharmed.

She was being accompanied by someone though. From a distance, I couldn't make out who it was. I glanced at my surroundings. Drew was still here and so was Paul. Gary had just announced that Grace was out yonder, which meant that whomever was accompanying her wasn't part of our group. I watched as they walked closer.

The person beside Grace was a blonde. He was definitely taller than her and had a peaceful air about him. He was wearing a baby blue shirt that had slightly purple sleeves and was wearing a matching headband. It was then that I realized who it was.

No. Way. I stared at the figure who was walking by Grace, setting her bike down to the side. He turned around and flashed a smile that I knew all too well. All of a sudden, I felt overwhelmed, but at the same time, I felt extremely happy. There was only one word that was able to come out of my mouth.

"Morty!"

The joy literally just radiated off of me. My smile was enough to make others smile. I dropped my bag and raced towards him, feeling giddy. I tackled him, making him stagger back a little, but he was strong enough to counter the force. I held him tightly and he returned the gesture.

"Miss me?"

I laughed, feeling myself tear up a little bit. It hadn't even been that long since I last saw him, but I missed him so much. It was literally like leaving a brother behind in another region. Morty and Eusine were the closest things I had to siblings.

"Of course I did you moron." We let go and I looked up at him. "Did you miss me?"

He grinned in reply. "What sort of question is that? Of course I missed you, love." I knew he would say that. I just knew it. I barely paid attention to the others as they began to converse and continued chatting with my best friend.

"You should have told me that you were visiting!" I exclaimed before holding up my Fog Badge necklace. "At least I kept my promise; I'm wearing the necklace, aren't I?"

Morty took the badge that been turned into a pendant between his thumb and forefinger. He examined it with a smile and then looked back at me. "You are. I take it you like it?"

"No. I hate it." I rolled my eyes. "Of course I like it. It's gorgeous; you know how much I wanted to challenge you for a badge, just so I could have one to look at, since I swore I would be your replacement one day."

He chuckled in reply. "That's true. Did you notice the back of the badge?"

I paused, looking confused. Back of the badge? Morty flipped the badge around and showed it to me. I stared at the silvery back that had been carved. There was a little message inscribed there. The blonde gym leader handed the badge to me so I could look at it closely.

_Together forever, never apart; maybe in distance, but never in heart__. With love, Morty._

I felt tears spring to my eyes. Dear Mespirit, he could always think of the best things to say. Sometimes I wondered why he was still single. I looked up at him and gave him a watery smile before hugging him again.

"You know I love you, right?"

He ruffled my hair. "That I do." He chuckled to himself quietly. "That I do."

Eventually we decided that we should go converse with others, and introduce Morty for that matter. I doubted that any of them had actually met him before. At the most, maybe seen his picture on TV or in a magazine or something. We turned and headed towards the others and it was around that time that I noticed that Drew seemed to be… glaring at Morty? I wondered what on earth for. He didn't even know Morty for Suicune's sake. Really, how absurd.

When we were finished setting up as a whole, Luna invited Grace and I to go swimming with her. I happily accepted, I was ready to get a little wet. I let Morty know where I was going and he nodded in confirmation before continuing with his conversation with Paul. I stifled a laugh. That must be one interesting conversation.

Grace and I changed into our swimsuits quickly. Luna had already changed into her swimsuit before we all had arrived. Mine was a two piece coloured dark purple and had a small star print in the top right corner. I tied up my dark hair into a ponytail and left my red fringe alone, letting it mingle with the darker strands of hair that fell from their holder.

The three of us went into the water. I shivered upon entry, it was quite cold. The water I was used to was a lot warmer than this, but Luna explained that this was normal temperature in Sinnoh. It must be really cold there. Not sure if I want to visit it anymore.

The three of us swam about a bit so Grace and I could get used to the cold temperate of the water. I eventually found that it was getting warmer. When we stopped, our hair all wet and dripping, we climbed onto Grace's Lapras and began to chat about how Luna had been riding with Gary.

I laughed when it was mentioned that Gary was "such a tease." I wouldn't have been surprised if Gary had just kissed Luna right then and there when he saw her, but I guess he was just a bit too self conscious to do that. I smiled. Must be nice having someone like you. Though from what I hear, it can be quite annoying too.

We began to swim back towards shore when the three of us noticed something off about our pokemon. Luna's Vulpix had fallen into the ocean, Grace's pokemon were looking very anxious and huddling close to her, and my Misdreavus whom I had released earlier so she could get some fresh air, had started to fly around in circles, her eyes shut tight, as if she was hearing something painful.

"Misdreavus!" I cried out, staggering out of the water to head towards her, hardly noticing that it had begun to rain, just like Castform had predicted earlier.

I was beaten to Misdreavus by Morty, who had also noticed the little ghost's distress. He was there telling her something and she slowly began to relax. I rushed over and took the little thing into my arms. I smiled gratefully at Morty before turning my attention back towards the little ghost who still looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Here sweetie, back in the pokeball you go." I fished around in my bag for her pokeball and returned her to it so she wouldn't have to suffer from the strange force any longer. I wondered what had made the pokemon act up like they did. I looked over at Luna who was drying off her wet Vulpix.

"Is Vulpix okay?" I called out to her, walking over.

"Yeah, Vulpix will be fine. How's Misdreavus?" Luna replied, looking up whilst continuing to dry off the fire pokemon with her towel.

"She's okay. I had to put her back in her pokeball though… I wonder what happened?" Luna nodded in agreement before letting her Vulpix go. The little pokemon shook itself to flatten its ruffled fur. Typical Vulpix.

Luna went over to her bag to grab another towel for herself and Vulpix's pokeball, while I went to go talk with Grace, who had been having a little tiff with Drew; Luna joined us a moment later. Grace had rushed out of the water to go rescue her Castform earlier when I rushed to go find out what was wrong with Misdreavus. I listened to them converse a little before Drew told me that "my friend was waiting for me," so I left to go find Morty, feeling a tad bit bad that I was leaving Miss Oak alone with the jerk.

Especially since Luna left too, not wanting to stick around the coordinator.

I went to go get changed first back into a pair of soft shorts, flip flops, and a dry t-shirt. The storm had died down by the time I was done, so I went to go sit down on the sand with my towel wrapped around me. Moments later I felt a familiar soul join me.

"Hey Morty." I said, unwrapping the towel from me to squeeze my hair dry before leaning my head against his shoulder. "Did you have a good time talking with Paul?"

He chuckled. "He's an interesting person, to say the least. He seemed very dead set on battling Grace's brother, from what I gather. I didn't figure out whether he won or lost, but he still wants to battle him again. Is he always so obsessed with battling rather than having a good time?"

I thought about that before nodding. "Yeah, pretty much. Even in school he's focused on battling. It's quite funny actually."

Morty smiled. "He seems okay though." I shrugged before laughing. "I'm sure he is. I don't really know him that well; I've only seen him around a couple of times. The longest I've talked with him was just to introduce myself, and I didn't really get an enthusiastic response to that."

He raised a brow. I burst into a fit of giggles. The two of us watched the ocean for a little bit; I smiled when I saw Grace's figure off in the distance. She was riding her Lapras with someone, I couldn't really tell who though, she was a fair ways off.

Suddenly I felt a shadow loom over me, blocking the warm rays of sun. I looked up annoyed, but relaxed when I saw that it was only Gary. He looked almost disgusted. I wondered what was wrong. I had never seen him like that; he was normally a very calm and friendly person.

"Hi Gary, what's up?" I asked, lifting my head from Morty's shoulder and twisting around. "You okay?" He growled. My eyes widening. That was definitely not like the Gary I knew, and I didn't even know him well!

"Gary, seriously, what's wrong?" I asked, this time my voice reflecting a bit of concern. I could have sworn that he grumbled something to the effect of: "he shouldn't be here." I looked over at Morty, who seemed to have heard the same thing. "I don't see why not." I replied slowly. "It's not like the beach is private."

"It was supposed to be just the six of us." He grumbled. I raised a brow, pushing back my red fringe so I could see him better. "So what now, you're saying that there isn't room for one more? If there isn't, then you can count me out as well. If Morty has to leave, then I'll be going with him." Morty decided to give his two cents. "I don't mind leaving, Tori, its fine." I was about to reply in my now slightly high pitched voice when I realized that he was going to say something more to Gary.

I had a slightly bad feeling about this.

"Though I don't know why you seem so dead set against me being here. Almost as if someone is a bit jealous that I'm spending so much time with Victorie?" I flushed as he laughed, cracking a grin. "I jest though, I know you wouldn't be."

Morty stood up before helping me up with a small smile; and then I swear I saw Gary snap. He began to shout so fast I could barely make out what he was saying. Paul had come over by this time and was looking genuinely confused and annoyed.

Luna joined the group and watched with me in horror as Gary raised his fist and looked like he was about to punch someone. She tried saying something to him, but ended up getting shouted at. I freaked, that wasn't like Gary. Why would he shout at Luna? I thought he liked her?

"He's an idiot! What is he even doing here? He wasn't invited!" Gary shouted. Right before he could actually punch someone, Grace came out of nowhere and tackled him, pinning him to the ground and growled at him. By now we had all formed a small circle around the two.

"He insulted us." Gary said angrily, replying to Grace's question about what his problem was. I fumed. "No he didn't!" My eyes narrowed. I had just lost all respect for him. To believe I thought he was okay earlier.

Morty pulled me away from the others. I watched in horror as Gary yelled at his twin sister, mocking her. How could he? What in the world was wrong with that moron today?

I was trembling slightly. It had been a bit of a close call earlier. Thank Entei for Grace, otherwise we would have been in trouble. I looked up and almost made a move to thank her when I saw Paul pull her off Gary and take her aside. There was just something wrong with the guys today. Normally Paul just wouldn't get involved, I figure.

Morty smiled down at me in an attempt to reassure me. It worked a little bit until he started to speak. Then I felt down again.

"I think it would be better if I leave for a bit. I actually have an errand to run for Whitney anyway in the main city." I frowned. "I'll be back later, I promise." I still frowned. I didn't believe him, which was surprising, normally I would believe every word he said. He seemed to notice. "Alright, in order to prove that I will be back, I'll give you this."

He handed me a pokeball. I looked at it curiously. Which pokemon of his was in it? He answered my question, even though I didn't speak it aloud. "It's my Haunter. I would give you Gengar, but you never know when you might need your strongest pokemon, right?" I nodded silently and put the pokeball on my belt. "Alright, I'll believe you."

He ruffled my hair like he always did, and then in a few quick strides, he was gone. Poof, just like that. And I missed him already. I looked at the pokeball in my hand, cradling it in my palm. I had half a mind to release the creature inside just so I could have another familiar presence with me, but I decided against it.

For some reason, I felt really alone.

I sat down and turned to watch the rest of the scene unfold before my eyes. Gary was still fuming, Luna looked both worried and confused, and Drew looked upset. I felt a pang of sympathy towards him, and I don't even know why. For a moment I wanted to go over there and just give him a hug or something, but I restrained myself.

I didn't even like him. Why was I feeling sympathetic? If anything, I should be concerned for Luna. The poor girl, she was just yelled at by her crush, who had acted completely differently earlier. I sighed, this was too confusing. My head was beginning to spin.

By this time I realized that the storm had died down and the ocean was calm again. Once again, Grace's Castform had predicted the weather correctly. No need for weathermen anymore, we've got Castform for accurate predictions.

I scooted towards the water and dipped my feet into the waves. There was just something relaxing about the ocean. I would have been even more relaxed if I were in the Burnt Tower, but it's kind of hard to get there right now. I mean, it's a couple thousand miles away, if not more, and I didn't have any flying pokemon, nor were my ghost pokemon strong enough to teleport me.

Plus I'd probably get in trouble for disappearing.

Ten minutes later I was calm again and felt confident to return to the others, though still wary of the guys. I went up to Luna who began to talk to me about some conversation that she overheard. I couldn't really make sense of it, but I pretended to and nodded in response to everything she said. I think towards the end she figured I wasn't really getting it, so she gave up on me.

I tried to think about what she said and process the information. Something about the guys asking each other to comfort either Grace or Luna? Why would they do that? Couldn't they make up their minds themselves or something? Really.

I decided that I should really go to sleep, even though I wanted to wait for Morty to come back. I was so tired, it had been a long day. I crawled into the tent and to my surprise I found Grace asleep on Drew. I blinked a couple times. And she said that she didn't like him.

I looked at Drew for a moment and saw that he seemed slightly uncomfortable, and worried. I felt bad, it was most likely partially my fault. Especially with me getting mad at him all the time and everything because of him calling me an amateur. Oh Ho-oh, I felt really bad now. I was so childish, holding grudges like that. I sighed, I guess I could apologize. Maybe ease up his worry a bit.

"Uhmm, hi…" I mumbled. He mumbled a hello in reply. I took a deep breath. It was now or never, right? "Oh, well, look… I'm sorry for holding a grudge against you because you called me an 'amateur.' I guess I kind of deserved it, since it was a stupid battling mistake. I uh… hope that you can forgive me… Maybe we can try and be friends, if you like?"

Wow, I fail at apologies. Drew looked surprised though. He seemed to stutter before replying. "I – uh – well, its fine. I uh – am sorry too, for calling you an amateur." He paused. "Uh – sure, let's be friends." I smiled. Maybe this would make Grace feel a bit better to, because it sure made me feel like I just had a weight lifted from my chest.

"Yeah… so, how is Grace? I can see the worry crease lines on her face, even though she's sleeping." I looked at her with concern. Something had happened besides Gary shouting at her that made her upset, but I was too tired to try and figure out what. "She's okay… she'll be better in the morning." Drew replied slowly.

I nodded. "You're right. Mornings give a person a bit of a brighter outlook on things." I felt a small tinge of red hit my cheeks as I asked; "How about you… are you alright? You seem a bit… I dunno, off." He looked startled but I saw a hint of red as well. It made me feel a bit less embarrassed that I wasn't the only one who felt a tad awkward. "I'm err… okay. Today just hasn't been my day." I nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Uhmm, if you don't mind me asking… were you mad that Morty visited?" He shook his head, but carefully so he didn't wake Grace. "No, I wasn't. He's friendly." Well, a bit blunt there, reminded me a tad of Paul for some reason.

"Oh good," I mumbled. "Uh, well, I guess I'd better get to sleep… it's kinda late…" He nodded stiffly. "Yeah… good night." I nodded in reply; I felt my cheeks changing colour again. "Yeah," I mumbled. "Sweet dreams." Drew nodded and tilted his head towards one side before closing his eyes. I exited the tent and bumped into my favourite figure.

"Hi Morty…" I mumbled. "You kept your promise after all." He smiled in the moonlight. "I had to get my Haunter back, didn't I?" I rolled my eyes. "I'm offended." He laughed and pulled me into a hug. "I'm kidding. Shall we go for a walk?" I looked out. The tide was slowly coming in, the stars were twinkling in their night time sky blanket, and the moon shone down brightly on us all.

Even though I was tired, for some reason I couldn't bring myself to say no. "Yeah, why not?" Morty offered his hand. I gave him his pokeball back, which he pocketed, and then he took my hand in his own. We walked along the water.

"You seem troubled." Morty noted. "Really? I hadn't noticed." I replied sarcastically. "I kinda apologized to Drew, and I don't even know why the hell I did. I felt sorry for him or something, I dunno." Morty put his arm around my shoulder and held onto me. "Maybe it's not a bad thing. Ever seen the way he looks at you?" I stared. "What?"

He laughed. "I didn't think so. Don't worry about it, Tori." I glared daggers at him causing him to laugh even harder. I decided to change the subject. "So what errand were you running for Whitney?" I asked. "She wanted a postcard or a souvenir from Hoenn, so I bought her one. I think she's planning on sending it to her family." I nodded in understanding.

"That's cool. Dad is on a business trip at the moment, I think he's like in Mauville or something. I can't remember anymore. Speaking of which, did you ask him where to find me?" Morty nodded. "I did. Well, I called him. He sent me to the Devon Corporation, where I met Steven Stone. He told me that you would be at the beach. I met Professor Oak as well, and the ever famous Mr. Stone." I smiled. "Lovely people, aren't they? How long are you staying in Hoenn?"

We paused and stood there together, our feet in the water. I looked up at Morty. He had a thoughtful air about him. "They are lovely people, you're right. Very kind, if I do say so myself." I nodded, it was true. "I don't know how long I'm staying. Maybe a couple of days? Three or four?" I jumped for joy. "Make it four! You can stay with me and Dad, we have _tons_ of spare rooms." He smiled down at me. "I would appreciate that; Whitney won't pay for a hotel even though I'm here because of her…"

I poked him. "Liar, you just wanted to see me!" He laughed. "Of course. Shall we head back?" I nodded and the two of us slowly made our way back to the tent. We both went in and curled up comfortably at one end of the tent. I leaned against Morty, using him as a pillow, before slowly letting my eyelids droop.

It had been a long day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I smiled drowsily. I would just have to wait and see.


	16. Grace : Jealousy and Secret Intentions

**

* * *

**

Wow, thank you all of you! We're getting some lovely reviews, we really hope you're enjoying it!

Jealousy and secret intentions.

Grace.

Hmmm… What's that smell? It's so sweet! My nostrils are tingling and my mind is wild from the fragrance, I can feel myself waking up a lot faster than usual; it still should take some time though.

I'm so warm; I'd like to stay here forever. The sun is seeping though the tent as if our shelter is not even there, but I'm so much _more _intensely hot. The only cool breeze is temporary; it stops from time to time. I crave for more every time it stops. I smile inwardly every time it starts again.

I shuffle closer towards it, only a little, but it was enough to bump into something. I don't have my feeling senses awake enough to think about what it is, but it's just as hot as I am. Only it's releasing that coolness too. The cool stopped briefly out of time with its usual rhythm and a small noise left instead. Whatever it was, it nuzzled back to me and began releasing its air again.

I wanted to breathe that cool air, it almost lured my mouth towards it, to inhale it, taste it, embrace it.

I opened my eyes, I was embracing it alright. What the hell am I doing!?

Somehow I didn't care at first; my lips clamping another pair, my hands hooking around green hair, my tiny framed body was practically smouldering into his. Everything about me was just going with the flow; I sat up over him, not once losing contact with his mouth.

My mind was in dreamy content; I was far too sleepy to believe any of this was reality. So what happens if this is fantasy? Have I secretly been attracted to Drew? Was I only subconscious of it? I _had _chosen to be his friend… Surely that meant I was driven to know him in the first place? I'm so confused!

I couldn't work it out, I was far too involved in concentrating on our lips brutally savaging around each other. He seemed pretty content with it, he was kissing back after all. I felt the warmth spread out in long spindly fingers along my chest and up to my shoulders.

My lips pouted as far as possible in reach for him as he became distant to me within a split second. Then the slight whiplash in my neck kicked in; I'd been pushed away.

"Grace." He whispered my name gently in a low pitch I didn't think was possible for him; I pursed my lips and opened my eyes to look at his crystal-like emerald-jade irises. He looked pained, torn, beaten by himself. I sat back and awaited yet another rejection. He sat up too and rubbed his temples forcefully.

"This is bad." Was all he said. I glared at my feet in an attempt to keep my eyes from soaking any salt water into my cheeks. "I know, I'm so sorry. I didn't know what I was doing…" I mumbled pathetically.

I felt him reach for my hand, but I flinched away. "Not you, Grace. It's my fault."

I looked up to protest, but he continued to worry and muttered; "I've messed you up."

"No Drew…"

"-You don't understand." He struggled mentally with himself as he thought about what to say, I waited patiently, but my body was shaking with destruction to itself. I was eating away at myself, cursing mentally at my stupidity. Everyone said I led him on, even my brother who would do anything to keep my happy; even lie to me to protect me from the truth. How could I? I'm such a bitch. What have I done? The guilt rushing in my sleep clouded mind was insane.

"You like Paul." He muttered plainly.

My bleary eyes looked back at his face; he stated it and awaited an answer. I nodded gently, nudging the tears out of my eyes as my head dropped.

"Paul…Likes you too. A lot." How much pain can this boy be going through to tell me this? He's so wonderful, so beautiful and loyal to me and Paul. How could he destroy himself for us so? The tears just kept coming.

"Drew…" I sighed; "If you really want to give this a try, I-"

He pushed a hand over my mouth, I frowned in protest but I didn't have the strength to stay annoyed, my face just turned into a grimace as he spoke; "Go talk to Paul."

I nodded slowly after scanning his face for any distress, either he had a better poker-face than the mauve haired boy himself or he really didn't mind because he looked very genuine.

I kissed his cheek gently and hugged him tightly; "I love you Drew." And I did, our young relationship had already become so strong that it could trump any of my other friendships; he was by far the best friend you could ever get. I would never look at him in the same way again, my innocent eyes had seen him at his most passionate, and I'd welcomed it with open arms… And lips.

He released his grip on me and allowed me to get dressed in peace; I gave him Lapras so he could get some time to think in silence. I knew just by looking at his disturbed face he needed alone time.

I pulled on my red bikini, it had pretty black beads around the hemming and straps. The material had a small black dotted pattern across it. I pulled on a large white shirt over the top so I was covered up a little better. My stupidly short, skinny legs branched out at the bottom, my tiny child size feet comfortably stood in black sandals.

* * *

I was greeted by my sheepish looking brother, he nudged me gently to get my attention; "hey." He whispered nervously, I glanced at his face quickly; noticing the remorse painted across his beautiful aniseed brown eyes. His stance wasn't quite right, I couldn't sum him up which is something I could do very easily most of the time. His body language told me he was very confident, but his face conflicted with that message, confusing me completely. I looked away so I didn't have to try and figure him out.

"I'm really sorry about yesterday; I don't know what came over me…" So his face is the truthfulness.

I grunted a little, my lips pouting as I clenched my mouth shut so I didn't say anything to make him _that _mad again.

"I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

What is Luna doing? Why is she with Paul? She's _all_ over him!

"You'll forgive me right?"

Did she just _wink!?_

"I don't think I could ever repay you for what I did, but I promise I'll try."

She's laughing at him, and he's laughing too! He never laughs like that with me! Was Drew lying to me? Had kissing me been an accident and he was trying to palm me off on Paul? Why hadn't I seen Luna and Paul together before?

"Grace?"

I looked over briefly at my brother; "Yeah whatever. Forget about it." My eyes shot back over to Luna, she just nudged him playfully, it looked like she was caressing his skin. He laughed it off but he stood very charmingly around her, leaning slightly in so his head was level with hers.

"Are you going to let her get away with that?" Gary frowned, I did too. We looked practically the same facial-wise. We gasped together when she got closer; he reached for her waist and slid his hand downwards! The only time Paul had ever touched me was by accident or to pull me away from a fight!

Gary was red with jealousy, and I wasn't much better.

"Are you going to let _him _get away with _that_!?" My voice rose a little louder. Gary shrugged; "If she wants him, then fine. Though I think you should stick up for yourself if you want him."

I was shocked to watch my brother walk away from such a challenge, especially because I'd never seen him so mad about someone before, and now he was just giving up?! How could he be so hypocritical? He was telling me one thing then doing another himself!

"Well she can't have him." I growled defiantly, strutting across the sands with such anger that I disturbed the dunes into mini-sand storms as I made my way closer.

It took me a while, but I eventually heard their conversation; "We can always see if it will work." Luna smirked seductively. I was nearly sick with hatred for this backstabbing "Bitch," I blurted angrily.

Startled, they both glanced over to me. Paul looked suddenly worried; not something I would have thought would be on his emotion pallet. Luna looked panicked; she began mumbling words that could not get past the ringing in my ears. Only her face shone through the red veil across my eyes. I swung for that pretty face; that back stabbing, beautiful face.

Of course I landed, she gasped and clutched onto her cheek. She disappeared from view as Paul stepped in front of her; "Leave her alone." She lunged from behind him, but this purple-haired barrier would not budge.

"Get out of my way." I growled as fiercely as possible. Ha, I couldn't be scary if I were in a Halloween costume.

"No." His growl beat mine every time; but I was a lot more intimidating today.

He refused to shift, so my itching fist hungrily battered into his perfect face too. They selected the wrong girl to pick on, I was Gary's sister; of course I can punch, I'd had enough practice!

They both gasped at me, neither thought I would have had the courage to hit him, nobody ever thinks that tiny, quiet, nurse in training Grace would ever hit _anyone,_ let alone the one person she was madly crushing on.

He checked his hand for blood after he'd touched his cheek, which I hadn't revealed from his dark skin. I shook out my hand as it screamed in protest at me, each knuckle winged at me to be cracked. Each joint bright red and my middle knuckle bled slightly as it had taken the most impact.

Of course I couldn't feel my hands, or move them as soon as they were pinned to a wall.

I wriggled. My arms could not flail, but I didn't stop trying for a long while. I screamed in his face but he just stared back at me blankly. I swore with every word in my vulgar vocabulary; Luna twitching at each one without fail.

I couldn't move though, damn his stupidly strong arms… My throat became coarse, and my bony thin body became weak to the point where if he let go of me I'd collapse down the wall and onto the hot sand.

"Grace, it's me."

I knew it was Paul, what is he chatting about? I must have hit him pretty hard.

"Grace look at me."

I refused, every time he said my name I fought the urge to spit in his face violently. I was feeling violent, but I was not crude or revolting.

"Look in my eyes, I'm not lying; it's Gary."

I resisted the temptation to obey, but I couldn't, I looked up at his black eyes. They were filled with sincerity. My body shivered as I looked into them, each vertebrae of my spine shuddered against the beach shop wall I was pinned up against.

I took some time to think it through, I scanned every inch of his body; it was definitely Paul. His slick hair, dark eyes, slightly toned chest covered in slightly tanned skin. He still sent me red at the thought of him kissing me. All the daydreams I had suppressed in a safe place flooded back to me, I'd thought about him a lot during this week and I'd fought it back. This mad attraction had scared me, and I hid it away in shame.

"You're Paul." I blurted in my pathetic attempt of a growl. He sighed and let me go, walking away from me. He didn't aim for Luna, perhaps ashamed, or perhaps scared of me flipping out again.

"We were attacked, yesterday, and ever since we've been in each other's bodies." He explained, struggling to find the correct way to do so.

"By what?" I blurted, why do I believe this!? It's the most ridiculous excuse I have ever heard. Why couldn't I just accept that someone's feelings were going to get hurt and I'd gotten the short straw? Paul let go of my wrists, but still stayed close to me so I didn't attack again.

Drew and Gary must have noticed the commotion, they must have sighed and hurried over; _Grace has started a fight again, _they must think. Usually I'm really gentle, I don't know why I'm being so violent at the moment, hormones? Surely not.

"We don't know." Gary said quietly, looking to Drew and Paul who silently agreed.

I guess I could see Gary's knowledge spilling from Paul's mouth, but I'd not had an intellectual lesson with him, he could just be equally as clever as my brother; "All we remember is that during mine and Paul's battle it started to rain and we blacked out."

"Where?" Oh no, Morty and Victorie returned to see this too, she was still warily holding onto Luna; who was eying me carefully.

Paul answered again, definitely not in his character at all; "By the sea, we were close to route 109, but we can't go very far to look for the cause."

I understood that water Pokémon were not the boy's speciality, or interest. I however had two; "I can."

Drew piped up for once, his tone stubborn and sarcastic; "That's stupid, you'll only get twisted around too."

I didn't even try to figure out who he sounded like, instead I retorted; "Thanks for the concern, but I'd rather get my brother back."

"Shut up Grace." Paul spat, I was beginning to believe this story more and more as they spoke.

Luna's voice was muted compared to usual, but it was still strongly projected across all of us; "Well what else can we do in fairness? We need to help you find it so you don't get stuck in the wrong bodies forever. Either way some of us are going to be twisted around, so we may as well risk finding whatever it is to help us get back."

Gary nodded; "She's got a point, if they do get twisted; at least they've found the cause…"

"If they can find the cause, _we _can. So why take the risk?" His voice sounded too caring to be Paul, and only Gary could really care about all of us three.

I slapped my hands onto my hips and glared in a sisterly way at Paul, it helped to imagine Gary in his place; "Because we're girls, and we open our eyes."

He glared back at me like Paul never could; it only confirmed this story to me completely correct, my brother was in Paul's body. "Shut _up _Grace!"

I stared in disbelief until Drew piped up again; "You do realise we'd have to search the whole ocean for this nuisance?"

"Who says it's a Pokémon?" Gary questioned, wait, Drew is it? I'm so confused…

"Well it disappeared pretty fast from our view. I don't know any rocks that can do that, do you?" That was so Paul. I tittered nervously as I suddenly realised; Paul is in Drew's body. I groaned to myself; I'd told him everything without realising.

"It can't be too far," Paul said, but it's actually my brother talking; "if it was attracted to us before, more humans should lure it to us again some time." Oh yes, it was definitely Gary in there.

"So we're in this now as bait!?" I protested, he sighed again; "You're the one who wanted to help."

"Only to search really…" Luna whispered, though she sounded pretty annoyed too, maybe she was still cooling off from my attack. A pang of guilt surged through me, but I reminded myself that she didn't know it was Gary in there. She was _still _flirting with Paul when she knew I liked him.

Morty was being very quiet, but he nodded when Tori spoke up; "Yeah, I don't see how that can help."

"Because we need you to, alright!? I'm tired of acting just for _you three; _I can't take this much longer…" I was confused of who was talking again, Gary's body, Paul in there!? I can't remember, it's so much to take in!

"_You're _tired!? Your acting skills are pathetic!" Paul, wait Gary growled, I guess that would make sense, we did think Gary was being a complete moron because of someone else's actions, whoever they are.

Tori agreed with me; "Yeah! You went to attack Morty!"

"Who are you anyway!?" I blurted, oops. I need to fix that.

Paul's body sighed, "that doesn't matter right now, are you helping or not?"

This is the easiest way to explain our conversation: Drew's body continued to rant at Gary's body; "I kept your appearance pretty well… _You _had the easiest change out of us three; You and Gary are pretty similar."

Ahh, that helped: Paul is in Drew, and he found it hard to act like Drew. I'd say he did a pretty good job, it convinced me. Then again, he was very quiet I had noticed, but I thought I'd done something wrong. It was convincing enough for someone who didn't know bodies could have their minds switched around.

"Oh shut up!" Drew replied, I'd now realised that he was in Gary's body.

Morty rolled his eyes, and Tori spoke up for him; "Yes we'll help."

"Fine." I grumbled; "We can use Lapras and Vaporeon…"

Paul's face grimaced at me, Gary style; "You're the _best _sister in the world." He mocked me, I glared a warning glance at him, and he was quiet again.

"What's it like to be in someone else's body?" Luna blurted thoughtfully, she must be as bad as me.

"Awkward." Drew replied.

Drew's body nodded in agreement; "Interesting…" He added, looking straight at me, I flushed the deepest red my blood could show, and I stared down at my sandals. How embarrassing to have confessed in third person to that person! I think only _I _could have pulled that one off.

"Not like what you know from being there, as in, what does it feel like? Do you feel like you're a different person or something?" Luna pushed, it was an interesting question, I listened to Paul's voice as Gary spoke so much like Grandpappy; "The same as it feels in your own body, so we tend to forget we're not." He glared at his own body containing Drew at that point; "It's just strange to see someone else staring at you in your reflection, like trick mirrors." He looked to Drew's body warily; "Plus it's really awkward to be this short."

Of course he would look for Paul's reaction, he stiffened gawkily in irritation. Paul was actually quite tall, Gary was just a freak and was used to being too tall for door frames.

"So who's who?" Tori piped up again, taking an odd looking glance to Morty, who turned away and walked off. We watched him, so there was no answer.

"Drew?" She said suddenly in the silence, it was an automatic reaction to look when your name is called and Drew fell for it stupidly. Gary's eyes flickered uneasily over to Victorie, and all of a sudden she was bounding towards him.

And I thought it was awkward to watch a friend kiss someone, but I was watching my brother unwillingly kiss one of my best friends under the influence of Drew.

I took a glance to Luna, her fists were clenched and she was muttering something to herself as she fought the urge to attack too. She must have felt what I was feeling earlier when I stormed over to her, except now she had a reason to stop herself.

I then looked to Paul's body, which was going bright red. He was trying to look away but it must be very strange to watch yourself kiss someone. Intriguing perhaps…

Drew's green eyes rolled, he wandered off almost immediately, I just wished I was confident enough to just walk away. He walked past a small figure of Morty, he was so far away I could only just make out his blond hair. I coughed quickly; "Err… Tori? I think Morty is leaving."

She gasped suddenly and let go of my brother. He stepped aside and watched her run off, then he smiled smugly and glanced over our disbelieving faces; "What?"

Gary's vile language spilled off of Paul's tongue, warning Drew never to mess with his body like that again. Drew laughed back; "Why not? I had to kiss _yours _didn't I? Haven't I _already_ messed it up?"

Luna shrieked suddenly, realising something I couldn't understand. It looked like someone had been kissing Gary without knowing it_ wasn't_ Gary.

"Any time, babe." Drew chuckled with Gary's beautiful chime; it just didn't seem as nice when it was used maliciously.

Luna screamed again; "I can't believe you!" She yelled in Drew's direction, but moved it towards Gary's anyway; "You _asked _him to do this?!"

"You enjoyed it really." Drew laughed smugly; it was horrible to imagine him acting like this in his own beautiful body. Paul was using it with a little more grace. No pun intended, I guess.

"Shut up Drew." I blurted again, maybe my outbursts are a good thing sometimes because he quietened quickly. "Gary, you're an idiot for thinking _that _would work, but Luna; you should see he was only doing it to keep you interested in his body for when he got it back."

She didn't look at me as I spoke, but her face did soften.

I sighed; "And I'm sorry I hit you, I guess I would never have done it if I'd have known it was Gary you were attracted to."

She nodded, but walked off in disgust of Drew anyway.

"I'm not sorry I hit _you_." I spat at Gary, it was hard to do so when looking at Paul's attractive face. He chuckled anyway; "I didn't think you would. I'm sorry I had to turn you down."

I shivered; it was weird to think I was hearing that from Gary. Very, very weird. We laughed it off awkwardly and he followed after Luna.

I looked over to the last man standing here; Gary, who was actually Drew. I scowled playfully; "You're an idiot."

"I know, I'm so sorry." With the combination of Gary's voice and Drew's smooth tone; I melted when he hugged me.

"What's wrong with 'Grandpappy'?" I asked, and he chuckled; "Nothing, I was being cruel, and I shouldn't have been. You're scary when you're angry."

"Thanks." I grinned as he walked me towards the shore with his arm draped over my shoulder. We stayed silent a while until he finally came up with something he found extremely funny; "So you and me huh?"

"What?" I frowned; surely he wasn't attracted to me after that frolic with Tori.

I'd obviously walked into a trap because he kept his face serious; "You and my body; can't say I blame you."

I turned my nose up snootily; "I like Paul regardless of what he looks like. Even _he _has a better temper than _you." _It was so easy to be sarcastic when looking at Gary's face.

He pulled a pained face at me mockingly; "Ouch, that really hurts."

I elbowed him in the stomach and he recoiled from me, I laughed; "So it should."

**

* * *

**

Victorie didn't look too pleased on her return, alone. So it was only natural that her new boyfriend should try to comfort her. I was soon accompanied by his body anyway.

I was sat on Lapras at the time with Castform snoozing lightly in my lap, I was aware of him silently swimming towards me from behind, he was very close when I spoke up; "So Paul likes me then, huh?"

He sat up on Lapras' shell without permission, making it cry out in surprise a little.

"Who told you that then?" He smirked sarcastically, though it was Drew's beautifully feminine yet strikingly masculine features looking at me, I could still picture Paul sat beside me as he hauled himself over Lapras' blunt spikes. It grumbled in slight annoyance, but its sweet nature kept it calm and continued to swim on peacefully. Castform stirred, but once satisfied it was safe, went back to sleep without much noise.

"When did you find out?" I quizzed, careful not to look at him. I was far too nervous to look him in the eye and as confident as he usually was, I was pretty sure he'd be finding this pretty awkward too.

I saw him shrug out of the corner of my eye; I smiled a little and pushed my head onto this shoulder. He didn't respond, but that's all I wanted really. Though neither of us were only children, we were both very relaxed in the silence. I guess we are both the quieter of the siblings.

His deep even breathing rocked my head through the shoulder I lay on; it was soothing for me so I closed my eyes gently and allowed my thoughts to wander.

What a day, and it had only just started… So far I've kissed one person's mind and another person's body. I've punched my best friend, and my crush's original face, and least importantly my brother. (I've done it before, he's gotten used to it.) Then I find out that three of my friends bodies are all mangled into each other's after some freak storm… How did it happen? Surely Grandpappy would have mentioned this if it had happened before; he's researching the ocean at the moment, that's why Vaporeon was so important for his work. I guess that's why Castform was important to him too; all water leads the ocean, right?

Vaporeon was searching as I thought; I'd sent her off on a quick scan of the shores, so all we could do really was wait. Kirlia was with Gary helping him with whatever it was he was doing, he'd roped in one of Tori's Ghost Pokémon to help too, I couldn't imagine what he was up to.

"Paul?" I blurted, he jumped at me. Clearly he wasn't quite used to me little habit, but he grunted to certify his attention. "What if we can't get you back to normal?"

He laughed, so I opened my eyes to see his reaction, he was staring out to the horizon with amusement plastered across his lips; "We will, don't worry."

"I do worry," I muttered; "What if?"

"There is no _if._" He snapped a little impatiently, I sat upright quickly and leant away from him a little as he continued to grumble at me; "we're going to change back, we can't stay like this forever."

I didn't bother replying, I knew if I argued my perfectly valid point further he would get even more annoyed.

"Sorry." He finally mumbled, pulling me to rest my head on Drew's shoulder again. "I'm just a little stressed, that's all."

"I know you are." I whispered, keeping my eyeline on Castform so my voice didn't waver. I get easily upset, only Gary really knew how easily, because I can cry at the slightest thing; even being joyous can make me weep.

"I don't get you."

I frowned and looked up to him; "Why?"

"One moment you're raging and fighting like a Purugly, the next you're being way too forgiving for your own good."

Great, I got compared to a Purugly, but then again, what's pretty about throwing punches at people?

"I don't usually fight." I protested, I was being truthful; my only fights had been with my moron of a brother. "I just got a little jealous." I confessed, my face going beet red in the process. He chuckled, it was so much more musical to me than even Gary's! It filled me with such a happiness that the blood in my cheeks faded.

"I got a little jealous too." He admitted, his chuckle still crackling through Drew's throat. I bit my lip quietly and waited for him.

He took a while to realise I wanted to listen to him, but eventually he sighed; "I thought you liked Drew."

I groaned; "You too!?" I really did lead him on… Whether he followed or not was irrelevant, I glanced to the beach to see him and Tori sat by the shore. They were mere specks to me, but I could tell it was them.

"When you told me about what happened last night, I was so relieved that you were actually hurt by me turning you down… If that makes sense." In a perfectly normal world I should be offended by this, but I guess I did understand in our context. Our little mad context.

He laughed again, his breath brushed between strands of my hair.

As we were on our little honesty session, I continued to gabble; "I did think I liked Drew this morning, you really confused me." We laughed together, and he apologised again.

I closed my eyes and allowed myself to drift in and out of day dreams; I can't remember them too well. I didn't properly wake up until Paul suddenly spoke; "What's that?"

I opened my eyes and scanned the general distance he was looking at. Sure enough, north-east to us was something huge against the rocks. I asked for Lapras to swim closer, and as we did the thing became clearer. We were staring at an ancient boat that seemed to have been abandoned. I cautiously steered Lapras closer, but we had to hurry because the sea was getting choppy.

It was odd to think how long we'd been riding Lapras; the sun had started its slow descent already. Then again, I didn't wake up at the crack of dawn exactly…

Paul disturbed me from my thoughts, his voice sounded almost worried; "The sea is getting rough…"

"It's been nice all day!" I complained, watching as Castform grumbled and changed from her sun form to rain form. My frown furrowed; "So much for a perfect last weekend of Summer…"

"Or it could be whatever switched us before." Paul muttered, diving under the water without warning. What a stupid plan, he comments on the storm setting in and decides to go for a swim. I waited anxiously on Lapras, who was crying out through the seas. He surfaced closer to the boat and began to swim for it, so I urged my transport Pokémon forward.

Once aboard, I returned both of my Pokémon, and headed for the direction Paul's wet footprints were heading. I took a glance outside again to see the waves raging against this ancient work.

I jumped when I felt a hand wrap around my waist, I managed to retain my scream into a pathetic wimped instead.

"Looks like we're stuck here until the storm winds down, we can go looking around anyway." Paul muttered; it was barely audible compared to the roar of crashing waves. I looked up at him and startled myself again; I'd forgotten it was Drew again.

He leant closer to me, Drew wasn't much taller than me compared to Paul or Gary, and so it was quite easy to reach his lips. I couldn't stop thinking about Drew then though, so I shied away and giggled.

"What?" Paul growled. I stopped tittering immediately. I apologised quickly and hung my head; I was so easily intimidated by him, even with a gentle face such as Drew's.

He let go of me and wandered down a corridor, I watched him for a little while, then shuffled after him when I realised I was alone in such a creepy place.

I'm not sure why I acted so juvenile, I guess I'm just a little disturbed that I was about to kiss Drew. I wasn't though, I was kissing Paul. No matter how many times I told myself that, all I could see was Drew's green hair and full lips.

I turned the corner and jumped again, my heart couldn't take many more surprises. Kirlia stood frowning at me, and then she smiled and hurried over to hug me. She must have teleported over, because she handed me a letter; 'Where are you? Please tell me you're safe. Gary.'

I sighed; I hadn't got a pen to write back with. She chimed her beautiful name at me in laughter and held out a pencil for me, obviously Gary had thought of that. What a brilliant brother of mine. I wrote out a huge essay about how we'd got caught in the freak storm and we're sheltering in an abandoned ship until it settles. I told him I would send Lapras over to fetch them once the waters had smoothed so they could help us with our search for the being that had switched them.

I handed it to Kirlia, who smiled with wide eyes at me. "Stay with Gary after this, I need you to look after Vaporeon and make sure she doesn't try to swim in the storm, okay?" She nodded, hugged me once more and closed her eyes, then disappeared.

I pressed my palm in the place where she had been, she wasn't there to touch now and I missed her already. At least she was safe there.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped again, I was seriously uneasy on this boat. I hadn't realised tears had washed over my cheeks for my Pokémon's absence, I must look ridiculous.

"Just told Gary where we are, Kirlia came." My voice was weak, my whole body was actually. He sighed and helped me to my feet; I cowered in his arms as he scrutinized my face. He obviously interpreted my shiver as I was cold, but I was actually quite frightened that he didn't like what he saw when I was so close to him.

"There's some bedrooms down this corridor…" he whispered quietly, he was close enough to my ear; "they've not been touched, there's bedding in a cupboard."

I nodded; we were obviously blessed with this place so convenient for our needs. He led me along, pushing me through a door and walking off. I scanned the room; it was covered in yellowing wallpaper with patches of mould in the corners. The small window was still intact, so there was no draught, the bed was quite small, and short but so am I. I would fit on it fine, I pitied Drew's body; even he would be too tall for it.

He came back through the door and threw a thick blanket at me, I caught it clumsily and mumbled a thanks. He helped me set it out on the bed and lifted the one side for me to get in. I was shocked to find he was quick to follow.

I bit my tongue to refrain my question for him, what was he doing? Instead I shuffled right against the wall and he kept his distance too. I lay with my back to him for some reason; I guess I felt a little uncomfortable with him, even though I'd spent last night sprawled over him. I was very much confused, but I was asleep far too quickly to even figure anything out.

**Hahaa, so yeah, the plot has been released and I've got to say well done for those who'd already figured it out. Took you long enough. ^^**

**The next chapters will be up soon. ^^**


	17. CG's AN Happy New Year :D!

_Scarlett speaking here :D I can't believe I actually remembered the password!_

_Sorry about the waitt :/ We're rather frustrating :L But we assure you there are updates coming…Eh, Sa-chan had some troubles and was unable to update…me, I'm just too lazy :P Only messing! I've just been busy a lot and chaa…I'm sure everyone knows how a thirteen year old would be like :]_

_The other two have nooo idea I'm writing this because they cannot be bothered to get on msn…I had a two minute convo with Bethan this morning and she hadn't been on for two days previous. Sa-chan's managed to break all the fingers on one of her hands (Clever her :P) and is kinda unable to type properly. I'm being harassed and bothered and annoyed 24/7 and I'm going to have to kill a list of idiots when I get back to school because they're really started to get to me D! And I also have my best friend's troubles thrown in with mine about this fella who my friend went out with and bla bla bla…I could create my own best selling teenage drama story on my own life :o!_

_Guys are complicated :) They're not all like Gary! Such a shame…I could do with one of them but noooo, I get this moron from my class who supposedly likes me but his friends hate me and that's why he brutely ignores me :/ Stupid people…_

_Well I could bore you with my million and one problems but I'm not really here to do that :P If you really wanna be bored to death, than you can send me a Pm xD You're advised not to though…You have been warned!_

_So yupss :] Updates coming whenever…Sorry guys D: I can't do anything though until I get the copy of the timeline because my retarded friend thought it'd be funny to delete it and when I deleted everything in my recycle bin he was like, err, I kind of put something that might have been important in there…I still have to decapitate them for that…Am I not a lovely person :)?_

_Anywhoo, message from moi ;] Tee tee why ell guyss~!_

_Scarlett~_

_Over+&Out..!_


End file.
